This essay examines how influential journalism and award-winning reporting shaped global historical and political narratives through “plausible storytelling.”
By comparing Western media traditions and Japanese media discourse, it raises questions about journalistic responsibility and historical perception.

January 10, 2019
They portrayed Mao Zedong, responsible for the deaths of tens of millions, as a benevolent leader and praised the bloody Cultural Revolution unfolding before their eyes as something admirable.

The prize, however, was never revoked.
Because the article had been written exactly as the Pulitzer establishment desired — in an extremely plausible manner.
When I reread the chapter I published on July 12, 2018 under that title, I found myself laughing aloud several times.
It is a remarkable essay proving that Masayuki Takayama is a truly unique journalist in the postwar world.
The following continues from his latest book.
Readers should head to the nearest bookstore immediately.
People around the world should read my English translation and learn the real truth.
Above all, they must recognize that it is a serious misunderstanding to think that the Asahi Shimbun represents Japan.

The lack of judgment among certain Asahi editorial writers recalls Katsuichi Honda.
They praise the AIIB in columns while criticizing the Abe administration.
Shintaro Kasa boasts of a “Japanese New York Times.”
Since the era of the Sulzbergers, The New York Times has declared that what it prints becomes news.
After all, it has won around twenty Pulitzer Prizes.
Yet Pulitzer himself was the owner of the New York World, a leading yellow newspaper.
It has even been said that the selection criterion for the prize was how plausibly one could write.
The New York Times produced many influential reports.
Its coverage of the Russo-Japanese War included disputed reporting.
Several Pulitzer Prize-winning articles also became controversial.
Walter Duranty, who received a Pulitzer for reporting favorably on Stalin, was later criticized.
Investigations later revealed the grim reality of Stalin’s rule.
Even so, the prize was never revoked.
Because the article had been written in a convincingly plausible manner.

Kasa began claiming that “The Asahi Shimbun is Japan’s New York Times.”
“What we print becomes news,” he implied.
Thereafter, it closely imitated The New York Times.
Playing Duranty’s role in Beijing was Akioka Ieshige.
He portrayed Mao Zedong as a compassionate leader and praised the Cultural Revolution unfolding before his eyes.
To be continued.