Description:
Japanese Media and the Fukushima Nuclear Disaster What role did the Japanese media play in the Fukushima nuclear disaster? Foreign observers have concluded that Japanese citizens had less information about the nuclear accident than those outside the country. The paper reviews secondary material and Japanese newspapers to analyze the role of the media in the communication of the disaster. Research on the political role of Japanese media can be divided into two groups. Many studies underline that Japanese media lack criticism of the government and don’t fulfill their function as watchdog or fourth estate. They criticize the press club system as an obstacle to investigative reporting, the media’s proximity to the state and power holders and the exclusion of outsiders. Other interpretations see the Japanese mass media as constantly critical of the government. It is argued that they have great influence on politics and achieve a pluralization of the policy process through interaction with various groups. The same dichotomy is reproduced in a discussion about the reporting of the nuclear accident. The paper gives an overview of research on the political role of the Japanese media. The reporting of the Fukushima crisis is scrutinized through newspaper archives of three national newspapers and secondary sources on the portrayal in five television channels. It is argued that the category of »media« must be replaced with more differentiated categories like media enterprises or media groups. Against the background of the empirical evidence from the reporting of the Fukushima nuclear accident it is reflected on useful categories and on explanations for variation in the reporting of the analyzed media units.