Asahi Shimbun’s response to Japan’s UN statements reveals an extraordinary contradiction: a self-appointed “third-party committee” presented as objective authority. This essay questions accountability, media power, and the necessity of national scrutiny.

2016-02-19

As previously noted, the Chinese once described themselves as having skin “a thousand layers thick,” but the following article proves that the Asahi Shimbun’s skin is three thousand layers thick.

Among Japanese citizens who possess sound minds, many must have been left utterly stunned.

The Asahi Shimbun Company, without consulting the public in any way, established what it calls a “third-party committee,” composed entirely of individuals it selected itself, and then proceeded to argue as if this body were an objective and legitimate institution formed by the Japanese people.
On this basis, it went so far as to criticize the Ministry of Foreign Affairs—that is, the Japanese government.

At this point, the Japanese people must summon all responsible executives of the Asahi Shimbun to the Diet and clarify the truth of the matter.

Not only that, but the time has come to conduct public opinion surveys—using taxpayers’ money, which is precisely what such funds should be used for—to determine whether Asahi Shimbun’s reporting has, as claimed, shaped the current situation or not.

If a majority of the public clearly judges that the responsibility lies with the Asahi Shimbun, the state must immediately calculate the damages suffered by Japan and its citizens and demand compensation from the newspaper.

At the same time, the nation should hold a referendum on whether the Asahi Shimbun, having acknowledged the gravity of its responsibility, ought to be shut down.

We must inform them—and the world—that we can no longer allow a newspaper whose true nature is that of a traitor to continue to exist.

The following is an article published on page four of today’s Asahi Shimbun.

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