An examination of how a major newspaper’s front-page choice on the morning of catastrophe shaped political leadership and policy outcomes.

2016-03-22
On the morning when a once-in-a-thousand-years earthquake struck and a once-in-a-thousand-years tsunami followed, a fatal scandal involving Prime Minister 菅直人—whom the entire nation wanted to see resign immediately—was splashed in a large headline on the front page of 朝日新聞, the newspaper that had elevated him to the office of prime minister.
That this prime minister was not a person capable of making sound judgments is now a historical fact.
As noted above, he was not even in a situation that allowed for sound judgment, and he used the unprecedented tragedy that befell Japan and its people to prolong his own administration.
What is more, he was an astonishing man who made his resignation conditional upon having the Diet pass policies that weakened Japan’s national strength, such as a consumption tax increase to 10 percent and the immediate, comprehensive shutdown of nuclear power plants.
That Asahi Shimbun was the newspaper company that made this man prime minister is a fact known to all of its subscribers.