Japan Media Review Update: October 6, 2003

JMR Staff (Annenberg School for Communication, University of Southern California)

OhmyNews: Written By the People, for the People
The pioneering South Korean news site posts hundreds of stories every day -- most are written by housewives, school kids, professors and other "citizen journalists." Founder Oh Yeon-Ho says his site is changing the definition of journalism -- and who can be a journalist. By Yeon-Jung Yu.
http://www.japanmediareview.com/japan/internet/1063672919.php

Citizen Reporters Sound Off Against Traditional Media Why are hundreds of people in Japan and South Korea volunteering to work as reporters at upstart "participatory news" sites? Three "citizen journalists" say they became reporters because they feel the mainstream press simply isn't doing a good job of reporting the news.
http://www.ojr.org/japan/media/1063391165.php

The above piece and other related materials are found in Japan Media Review (www.JapanMediaReview.com).

BRIEFS

The following briefs are posted at: http://64.87.25.234/ojc/topics/index.php?tID=40

Yomiuri starts its electronic edition worldwide
2003-09-16 23:44:02
Via Pressnet: The Yomiuri Shimbun started distributing electronic versions of Japanese daily papers in major cities around the world this month. The electronic edition of Yomiuri contains 28 pages printed in black-and-white in A3-sized. It is a mix of special pages from its satellite-transmitted edition for overseas subscribers and the main sections from the Yomiuri Shimbun daily edition. Circulation is estimated to reach a total of 2,000 hotels, bookstores and other sites in 55 countries. The price differs by geographic location. In the United States, for instance, the paper costs two dollars. A Yomiuri official in charge of the project commented: We are receiving inquiries from business people planning to make overseas trips asking us where they can get the Yomiuri Shimbun. This electronic delivery is a cooperative venture between NewspaperDirect in Canada and its Japanese agent, Konica Business Machine, in Tokyo. The Yomiuri transmit PDF files of its newspaper pages to NewspaperDirects servers on daily basis, and the date will be transmitted to NDs print stations in major public transport facilities, hotels and bookstore worldwide.
- Keiko Mori, Japan Media Review Staff Writer

Japanese baseball team scores home run with Weblog
2003-09-11 23:17:08
From Daily Yomiuri: The Hanshin Tigers professional baseball team, on a winning spree, has grabbed the attention of many fans due to a popular Weblog, featured in its official Web site. The number of monthly visitors to the site increased from 290,000 in April to 1.5 million in August. The site features a blog, Tora no Iji (Tigers Pride), written by the team's batting coach, Yutaka Wada. The blog averaged 50,000 hits a day in August and boasts of more than 4.35 million hits since January. Wada believes that the blog is an effective way for fans to communicate with the team. Wada said, Ive been able to continue the blog because fans look forward to it. I hope it will be a link between the fans and the team.
- Keiko Mori, Japan Media Review Staff Writer

Japan ranks 10th in broadband Internet penetration
From the Japan Times: Japan is in 10th place in use of broadband Internet in the world, with a ratio of 7.1 percent broadband subscribers per 100 inhabitants, according to a report by the International Telecommunication Union. Titled Birth of Broadband, the reportstates there were around 63 million broadband subscribers worldwide as of the beginning of 2003, compared with 1.13 billion fixed-line users and 1.16 billion mobile phone users. Broadband services, available in Japan for $24.19 a month, allow Japanese users to open a page on the World Wide Web 520 times as fast as doing it through a standard dial-up modem. The report therefore predicts that Japan should move up the global ranking as it provides the worlds lowest prices and fastest speed. While the United States ranks 11th in the world, with a subscription rate of 6.9 percent, it has the largest number of broadband subscribers at 19.9 million.
- Keiko Mori, Japan Media Review Staff Writer

Information literacy for kids becomes crucial in Japan
From Daily Yomiuri: To protect children from being deceived by false information or from getting into trouble online, some agencies in Japan have started giving young people computer literacy education.
One example took place at a recent Internet conference organized by three primary schools in Sasebo, Nagasaki Prefecture. Students were assigned to collect information through the Internet about elderly people and were encouraged to exchange opinions by e-mails, with an instruction on proper etiquette from teachers. But cyber-etiquette cant be acquired just though formal education it must come from the parents, too. According to Katsunori Nagai, a subject examiner for the Education, Science and Technology Ministry, Computer education for lower-grade children must not start with a keyboard, but with an experience.
- Keiko Mori, Japan Media Review Staff Writer