Japan Media Review Update: May 31, 2004

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

Review
The following reviews are posted at: http://www.japanmediareview.com/japan/digest/digest.php

Japanese Journalists Feared Dead Near Baghdad
From The Asahi Shimbun: The Japanese Foreign Ministry reported that a vehicle carrying two freelance journalists from Japan and two Iraqis came under attack on May 27 in a Baghdad suburb, and one or two of the passengers are thought to have died. The fate of the two journalists, believed to be 61-year-old Shinsuke Hashida and 33-year-old Kotaro Ogawa, is unclear, but area hospital officials said the badly burned bodies were probably those of the Japanese. The journalists were returning to Baghdad from Samawah, where Japanese Ground Self-Defense Forces are stationed.
-- By Japan Media Review Associate Editor Eric Ulken

Report Backs Scandal-Plagued Ratings System
From The Daily Yomiuri: Research conducted by the National Association of Commercial Broadcasters in Japan (NAB) concludes that the current audience measurement system is "adequate" to evaluate the viewership of TV programs, but a complementary qualitative standard should be added. After a ratings scandal involving Nippon Television Network Corp. (NTV) last October, in which a variety show producer manipulated ratings, observers raised the question of whether the present rating system should remain. (See Week in Review 10.25.03) Audience ratings are currently calculated from a survey of households selected by Video Research Ltd., the sole audience measurement firm. While the rating system indicates the number of households that watched a specific program, it does not identify who saw the program or what they thought about it. The group failed to make specific recommendations about what kind of qualitative research should be gathered, but it plans to release another report next month.
-- By Japan Media Review Associate Editor Keiko Mori

Japanese Press Pans Bush Speech
From CNN International: While diplomatic leaders in Japan openly welcomed the Bush administration's proposed U.N. resolution on Iraq, outlined in a speech on May 24, the Japanese media were less kind. The president's speech describing U.S. plans for a sovereign Iraq was derided as damage control following the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal. NHK, Japan's public broadcaster, said plans to destroy the notorious prison outside of Baghdad were only intended to boost America's image abroad.
-- By Japan Media Review Associate Editor Eric Ulken

DTV Recording Restrictions Draw Complaints
From the The Japan Times: NHK and other broadcast networks have received more than 15,000 questions and complaints about new measures they implemented to prevent viewers from duplicating digital TV programs. Since April 5, NHK and members of the National Association of Commercial Broadcasters in Japan (NAB) have broadcast programs with a special transmission code that restricts copying of the programs in order to protect copyrights. The duplication controls, which affect both digital terrestrial and satellite television, were partly a response to increasing piracy of popular Japanese TV dramas in foreign markets. But viewers say the restriction deprives them of the right to edit programs on their computers. The Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications aims to have all terrestrial and satellite broadcasting in digital format by 2011.
-- By Japan Media Review Associate Editor Keiko Mori