Published on July 15, 2019.
Republishing a chapter originally posted on July 31, 2018, this article introduces Kent Gilbert’s criticism of The Asahi Shimbun’s tendency to conduct interviews with predetermined conclusions, its pages focused on bringing down the Abe administration, and its lowest ranking among Japan’s five major newspapers in Oxford University’s newspaper trust ranking. It questions the value of newspapers in the internet age and the problem of newspaper companies that have lost their reporting ability.

July 15, 2019.
As can also be seen from the fact that, in Oxford University’s “newspaper trust ranking,” Asahi ranked lowest among Japan’s five major newspapers,
The following is a chapter published on July 31, 2018.
The following is a continuation of the previous chapter.
Emphasis in the text other than the headings is mine.
The bridge carriers of the Ōi River.
On the other hand, Asahi Shimbun reporters tend to conduct interviews after deciding their conclusions from the beginning.
In March of this year, an article titled “Why Are Kent Gilbert’s Books on China and South Korea Selling?” was published in The Asahi Shimbun, but I replied to the interview request as follows.
“If you send me your questions in writing, I can answer them in writing, but since I also have questions I would like to ask Asahi Shimbun reporters, the condition is that you also answer those questions in writing. And please understand that the full text will be posted on SNS and elsewhere.”
The Asahi reporter gave up on the interview, but that could not be helped.
I did not want only part of my argument to be cut out and used to write a biased article convenient only for them.
The pages of The Asahi Shimbun, which has nothing in mind except “bringing down the Abe administration,” are no longer a place for conveying news to readers, but have become a place where reporters pour out their wishes and delusions.
They may think they can deceive readers, but as can be seen from the fact that, in Oxford University’s “newspaper trust ranking,” Asahi ranked lowest among Japan’s five major newspapers, many Japanese citizens have also noticed.
Does a newspaper that is not trusted by the people have any value in existing?
The Mainichi Shimbun, which once had a certain degree of presence, also had a scandal involving English-language online articles, and now no one pays attention to it.
Perhaps The Asahi Shimbun, too, is only still in its prime while it is being criticized.
In the Edo period, on the Ōi River, where bridges could not be built by order of the shogunate, there were “bridge carriers,” or nagashi-ninsoku, who carried travelers across on their shoulders.
But once a bridge was built in the Meiji period, their services were no longer needed.
The Asahi Shimbun today is like those bridge carriers waiting on the riverbank even after a bridge has been built.
In an age when one can instantly learn the latest news on the internet, to have people read a newspaper containing information from the previous day should require considerable added value.
But The Asahi Shimbun continues its old-fashioned methods while pretending not to notice that reality.
Not only The Asahi Shimbun, but many newspaper companies as well have stopped investigating things on their own and merely pass down information that has flowed from above.
In terms of “reporting ability,” weekly magazines have stolen their thunder, but the “Bunshun cannon” aims only at scandals.
Connections between Governor Onaga and the Chinese Communist Party, the relationship between Representative Tsujimoto Kiyomi and “Kansai Ready-Mixed Concrete,” Representative Renhō going to Taiwan to amuse herself during the eighteen-day recess of the Diet…scoops that serve Japan’s national interest would be most welcome.
This article continues.