This chapter examines the difference between a publication serving a “cause” and a true newspaper. It reflects on the dangers of journalism driven by ideology rather than verification and the historical responsibility of the press.

2015-12-28
I do not call an organ of a “righteous cause” a newspaper.
Because I believe the role of a newspaper is to expose the true nature of that “cause.”
The following continues from the previous chapter.
Avenged by history.
Before a “cause,” there is neither reporting nor verification.
More important than facts is how to raise the banner of a cause and incite readers.
Hasegawa laments.
“I do not call an organ of a ‘cause’ a newspaper.
Because I believe the role of a newspaper is to expose the true nature of that ‘cause.’
An organ of a ‘cause’ is nothing more than a propaganda leaflet.”
“From the false reports of ‘Seiji Yoshida’ beginning in the 1980s through the early 2000s to the support of Yayori Matsui’s ‘tribunal’ movement, the series of comfort women campaigns that followed clung to a ‘cause’ and manufactured ever more ‘causes,’ becoming a symbolic phenomenon in the mediocre historical trajectory of the Asahi Shimbun.”
“What is frightening is that a ‘cause,’ including substituted or distorted ones, emboldens and hardens those who carry it, precisely because they believe it to be a righteous cause.”