Published on February 18, 2020.
This essay criticizes NHK’s reporting stance, arguing that while it is eager to criticize the government, it almost never criticizes the opposition parties.
It argues that opposition parties and politicians are also forms of power, and that since the mass media itself is the Fourth Estate, often surpassing the three branches of government in influence, the principle that “the media should criticize power” must also be applied to the opposition and to NHK’s own news department.

2020-02-18
As viewers know, this time there was not a single comment saying, “They should listen to the voices of the people who are saying that now is not the time to be doing such things.”
Even so, what is truly bizarre is the manner of NHK’s reporting.
As was made clear during the Moritomo-Kake scandals, when it comes to criticism of the government, all viewers surely remember that Arima repeatedly and persistently continued to make comments criticizing the government.
However, they do not criticize the opposition parties at all.
As viewers know, this time there was not a single comment saying, “They should listen to the voices of the people who are saying that now is not the time to be doing such things.”
Maeda, the new president of NHK, who is said to have formerly been the head of Mizuho Bank, was asked at a press conference about NHK’s reporting and said, “It is natural for the media to criticize power…”
However, the following points must have been completely missing from his mind.
The opposition parties are also a great form of power; indeed, it may be said that all politicians are power.
Six years ago, in August, the Asahi Shimbun officially admitted that its reporting on the comfort women issue and its reporting on the testimony of Director Yoshida of TEPCO’s Fukushima plant had been erroneous reports—the reality was fabrication—and its president resigned.
Since then, major doubts have arisen about its credibility, and although the power it had wielded at will until then has greatly faded, the mass media is still the Fourth Estate, a power that even surpasses the three branches of government.
All of these points must have been completely missing.
Maeda, NHK.
Never forget, even for a moment, that the principle “It is natural to criticize power…” applies to the opposition parties as well, and also to NHK’s own news department itself.