During the Kake Educational Institution controversy, Asahi Shimbun published a series of editorials marked by moral posturing and rhetorical excess.
This article exposes the inversion of responsibility and the media’s ethical collapse.

A leading Japanese newspaper’s editorials during the Kake affair reveal how moral grandstanding and rhetorical inversion can corrode journalistic credibility and public trust.

2017-07-31

The following continues from the previous section.
Text between asterisks indicates my own emphasis.
Even so, what astonishingly childish and malicious rhetoric this is.
During this period, Asahi Shimbun continued to denounce the Abe administration while striking a self-righteous pose over the Kake Educational Institution issue.
Looking back over the one-month period beginning on May 17, when Asahi Shimbun published its so-called “scoop,” we see the following.
“Are the basic principles of a democratic state being undermined? A problem that raises such doubts has been revealed by documents prepared by the Ministry of Education that Asahi Shimbun obtained” (editorial dated May 18).
“Many people are angry, harbor doubts, and feel frustrated,” and “the government’s backward attitude toward information认为 transparency threatens the ‘right to know’ that supports popular sovereignty” (editorial dated May 22).
“The administration’s stance does nothing but deepen political distrust,” and “it cannot be permitted to continue pretending nothing is wrong” (editorial dated May 26).
“The Abe administration is neglecting its natural responsibilities as the executive branch. There is no choice but to think so, given the amount of testimony and documentation that has come to light” (editorial dated May 31).
“Surprise, exasperation, and distrust only continue to grow,” and “this is a grave betrayal of the public’s right to know” (editorial dated June 6).
“The administration’s response was nothing other than an insult to the public” (editorial dated June 10).
“It bares its fangs at those who do not align with the administration’s wishes” (editorial dated June 18).
I continue to subscribe to Asahi Shimbun in order to check television listings and to monitor the paper itself, but during this period I hardly read the articles at all.
Even so, the rhetoric is utterly exasperating.
Any person with a sound mind would be astonished by the shamelessness with which Asahi Shimbun substitutes the government for the malicious acts it itself is committing.
During this period, Asahi Shimbun treated the words of 前川喜平 as though they were infallible, repeatedly dismissing any criticism of him as mere “personal attacks.”
It is as though the paper had bound its fate entirely to his.
To be continued.