An NHK BS news program featured Ron Steslow as a figure within Republican circles criticizing Donald Trump. Against the background of suspected Chinese Communist Party information operations targeting the United States and Japan, this essay questions whether NHK failed to recognize the context and may have been influenced by information favorable to China.

March 3, 2020
Whose Information Is NHK Acting On? The Suspicious Nature of Its Ron Steslow Report
Just now, on an NHK BS news program, I saw a strange report saying that a man named Ron Steslow had appeared within Republican circles as someone criticizing Trump.
The moment I saw this man’s face and expression, I remembered what I have written many times before.
There are certain features in the expressions of people who are under the influence of Chinese or South Korean operations.
First of all, this man is thoroughly shallow.
There is no core in his words or in his expression.
NHK appeared almost pleased to present the narrative that criticism of Trump had emerged from inside the Republican Party.
But what lies behind that?
Who is trying to show such a figure to Japanese viewers, and with what intention?
That is what must be considered.
It is clear how much China dislikes the Trump administration.
That is because the Trump administration was the first American administration after the war to confront the tyranny of the Chinese Communist Party in earnest.
For the Chinese Communist Party, the story that someone from inside the Republican Party has emerged to criticize Trump is extremely convenient.
Is NHK simply sending information convenient to China directly to the Japanese people?
That is how it appears to me.
Does NHK not understand this at all?
No.
It is not that NHK does not understand.
Rather, it may have received information from the Chinese side and eagerly jumped at it.
In other words, it may be being manipulated by Chinese intelligence organs.
China has not placed so many of its government-related organs around NHK for no reason.
It is almost certain that many of them are intelligence organs.
What should Japan’s public broadcaster truly be doing?
It should be informing the Japanese people how the Chinese Communist Party conducts information operations against the world.
Even reporting on American domestic politics is not unrelated to China’s intentions.
In particular, the context in which Japan’s public broadcaster handles criticism of the Trump administration is extremely important.
It is not enough simply to report that anti-Trump voices exist even within Republican circles.
Whose voice is it?
What organizations is it connected to?
What flows of money and information lie behind it?
What meaning does it have for the Chinese Communist Party?
Unless these questions are examined, it cannot be called international reporting.
Once again, NHK lacks the most important perspective.
No, perhaps it does not lack it.
Perhaps it is deliberately excluding it.
The Japanese people must never believe NHK’s international reporting uncritically.
Especially regarding reports related to China, South Korea, the United States, and the Trump administration, they must always suspect the possibility of information operations behind them.
If NHK, which collects reception fees from the people under the name of public broadcasting, is spreading information convenient to the Chinese Communist Party, then this cannot be dismissed as mere biased reporting.
It is a national issue.
It is an issue concerning Japan’s security.
The Chinese Communist Party does not attack only through military means.
It attacks through economics.
It attacks through diplomacy.
It attacks through education.
And it attacks through the media.
Is NHK becoming part of that battlefield?
I have a strong suspicion that it is.