This chapter highlights a conversation revealing why a German friend could not understand Japan’s unique situation in which the national broadcaster, NHK, regularly airs anti-government content—an idea unimaginable in Europe, where national broadcasters naturally align with state interests. Through dialogue between Takayama and Kawaguchi, the text examines NHK’s ideological direction, the Asahi Shimbun’s influence, misconceptions about the BBC, the resistance to NHK leadership reforms, and the selective reporting on issues such as Germany’s revision of its FIT renewable energy policy. The discussion exposes the structural abnormality of Japan’s major media, which often prioritize anti-Japan narratives over balanced journalism, contributing to a distorted national discourse.

The German friend simply could not understand what I was saying, because in his mind it was unthinkable that a “national broadcaster would broadcast anti-government content,” as happens in Japan.
June 19, 2024.

The following is the continuation of the previous chapter.
It is essential reading not only for the Japanese people but for people around the world.

Do Newspapers and Television Have a Future?

Kawaguchi:
But the Asahi Shimbun is a newspaper, so reading it requires effort.
What is more problematic is NHK.
Because television is a visual medium, information enters people’s minds simply by watching.
Its permeation into the public is far greater than that of newspapers.
I once spoke in Germany with a friend about the NHK Board of Governors.
After Prime Minister Abe took office, people like Naoki Hyakuta were appointed so that NHK’s reporting might become a little more neutral.
But for some reason, this German did not understand what I was talking about.
Thinking about it now, in any country, a “national broadcaster” is expected to lean toward the government and deliver pro-government reporting.
In other words, for that German, the idea that a national broadcaster would broadcast anti-government content—as happens in Japan—was so far outside his assumptions that he could not grasp what I meant.
Even when you watch Germany’s national broadcaster today, it appears critical or neutral on the surface, but it still keeps the government—and the broader national interest—in its field of vision somewhere.

Takayama:
That is the inherent nature of national broadcasters.

Kawaguchi:
Japan is the only country that is different.

Takayama:
The previous NHK Board of Governors was nothing more than a decoration.
This is related, but now Katsuto Momii has become President of NHK, and the resistance to that appointment was intense.
Whenever people in Japan discuss national broadcasting, BBC (the British Broadcasting Corporation) is always cited.
“BBC criticizes the government,” they say, insisting that “anti-Japan content is correct,” and NHK has consistently embraced that stance.
This is the kind of organization that considers broadcasting the false “Emperor’s Trial” staged by former comfort women to be correct journalism.
After Shin Taro Kasa retired—after the 1970 Security Treaty protests—I believe Japan’s major media outlets fell into a state where they could no longer be controlled at all.

Kawaguchi:
The nuclear power issue also has many moments where I think, “Huh?”
Japan copied Germany’s “20-year fixed-price feed-in tariff system (FIT)” for renewable energy, but Germany drastically revised it in 2014.
However, that is never reported.

Takayama:
Among the vast amount of available information, Japanese newspapers and television deliberately pick out the trash—stories that should be thrown away.
This is intolerable.
They could provide much more information, but instead, they selectively choose things with no value—things that simply fit their own anti-Japan agenda.