This chapter contrasts the fabricated scandal surrounding the Nishiyama Takichi incident with the genuinely malicious scandals perpetrated by Asahi Shimbun. From the NHK document leak to behavior reminiscent of political purges, the text supports former Prime Minister Abe’s remark that Asahi “has no qualification to be a news organization.” It concludes that any journalist with a conscience should seriously consider shutting the paper down.

2016-01-08

This is the continuation of the previous chapter.
Some say that the Nishiyama Takichi incident at Mainichi Shimbun was a scandal.
It was the case in which he obtained classified documents from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to prove the existence of a government secret agreement.
But they call it a scandal because he “had relations” with a female official in the ministry in order to execute it.
However, while extortion or criminal acts are never permissible for obtaining information, there is nothing wrong if mutual affection is involved.
In fact, police detectives often give stories to reporters they like — it is extremely common.
Accepting a man’s goodwill but rejecting a woman’s is something only a Confucian fundamentalist would insist on.
That so-called scandal was manufactured only because the prosecutors coerced reporters to label it a scandal, and each newspaper weakly complied.
In contrast, the five cases that Asahi Shimbun itself has brought to light are all genuine scandals — and extremely malicious ones.
Particularly in the NHK incident, leaking documents behind the scenes and having Gendai publish them resembled Mao Zedong’s purge of Lin Biao.
Shinzo Abe stated that Asahi “has no qualification to be a news organization.”
He was absolutely right.
If they possess even the slightest conscience as journalists, it is time for them to seriously consider shutting the paper down.