Are the media and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Japan friends or foes? How should the media cover NGOs? Should NGOs stage media stunts? Those were some of the questions posed to a panel of activists and journalists in Kyoto last month. Though the Japanese civil society sector has traditionally been smaller than in other major developed countries, the growing role of NGOs is one of most fundamental changes occurring in Japan today.
Since 1998, when a law was passed making it easier for organizations to register as NPOs (non-profit organizations), 23,608 groups have gained NPO status. As NPOs take up their new role in Japanese society, how NPOs use traditional and new media, and how the media portray NPOs and their work, will be crucial to the development of Japan’s still relatively young civil society sector.
The Nov. 12 seminar, titled "Human Rights NGOs and the Media: Allies or Adversaries?", was held at Kyoto Sangyo University as part of the 2005 Peace as a Global Language Conference. Moderated by Eric Johnston of the Japan Times, the seminar featured Masami Ito, a Japan Times reporter, Yuji Yoshitomi, an Osaka-based writer from weekly tabloid Friday magazine, and activist, writer and American-born naturalized Japanese citizen Debito Arudou.
The first speaker, Masami Ito, explained how her work covering immigration issues brings her into contact with many NPOs. She stressed the importance of objectivity. "News reporters are not activists. News reports must just communicate facts and it’s our job to let the readers form their own opinions." Ito also gave advice to activists hoping to communicate through the media, suggesting that they "network with media people and become a source of information."
Yuji Yoshitomi, Friday magazine journalist and author of "Osaka Bankrupts", an expose of corruption in the Osaka city administration, spoke next. In his speech Yoshitomi confided that he has never deliberately set out to write about everyday NPO work, but he has had to report on NPOs involved in acts of criminal deception. He said he has been told by police sources that some organized crime Yazuka groups have set up NPOs as a front for their activities.
Debito Arudou was on hand to give an activist’s perspective. He had plenty of practical advice for activists dealing with the media. "Activism in Japan can be a tough job, but not impossible," he said. "I do not consider [the media] adversarial.’ It's a matter of having the right message and knowing your audience."
Arudou stressed that anyone with a message to spread can hold a press conference. "Contact the press club connected with the agency or outlet you are trying to canvass, and tell them the time and place. Simple as that." Although organizing the kind of coverage you need may be a different matter, he said, "Remember any article your issue gets is a minor miracle–a major one if they get the information right."
He also had advice for those dealing directly with journalists: "Even more miraculous is a one-on-one with a reporter. But remember that due to editors and editorial constraints, things rarely, if ever, come out in an article as you wanted." Arudou recommended that activists provide primary sources because "reporters love photocopies."
Lastly, Arudou listed some barriers to activism that he has bumped up against in Japan. They include: a culture of information control ("just about every organization, and especially the bureaucracy, is closed to outsiders"); the press club system ("one-stop shopping, but also self-censorship and information control"); and the threat of violence from extremist groups.
In the question-and-answer session, moderator Eric Johnston introduced the question of credibility: how do journalists tell if NPOs are bona fide or not? Japan Times reporter Ito said she began by checking NPO’s past activities and how they have spent their funds. She also talks to her own legal and NPO contacts. Friday magazine journalist Yoshitomi noted that some NPOs have no choice but to get involved in business because they have considerable trouble raising funds. Activist Arudou countered that some NPOs are bad, but so are some companies and government institutions; NPOs should be prepared to be judged on their deeds.
Another questioner asked the panelists if they thought the media’s attitude to the NPO sector had changed significantly in recent years. While Ito and Arudou were unsure that it had, Yoshitomi argued that "the work done by NPOs and NGOs is now more appreciated by the mass media. NPOs involved in low-profile activities have come up with visible outcomes." He drew on an example from his research on the Osaka administration. "An NPO was the first to disclose evidence of corruption by the Osaka authorities," he said. "The mass media have strongly praised their work."
One more question from the audience drew the seminar to a close: "Are media stunts necessary or useful for activists in Japan?" Arudou was emphatic that they are. "You have to draw attention to an activity. It’s not news if it’s not new," he said. "Sometimes stunts are very useful." He referred to one well reported stunt he undertook last year with a group of fellow activists. Dressed as seals they held a picnic on the banks of the Tamagawa river in Yokohama in protest against the issuance of a residency certificate to "Tama-chan," a seal living in the city’s Tama river–something denied to non-Japanese human taxpayers.
While Yoshitomi was unconvinced that such stunts are really necessary, Ito described one "unintentional stunt" she witnessed during a press conference with a group of Kurdish asylum seekers. When news of one member’s deportation came mid-press conference, the family started weeping in front of the cameras. Even Japan’s right-of-center Yomiuri daily newspaper carried the story. "I don’t know if stunts are good or bad," Ito said, "but when something conspicuous happens, it gets media attention."
By chance, NPOs were in the news only a few days before the event with controversy surrounding the Japanese branch of the global "Whiteband" anti-poverty campaign. Earlier this fall the media reported that none of the money from sales of 4 million 300-yen wristbands was actually going directly to developing world charities. Initially, the group stressed that the campaign’s aim was simply to raise consciousness of the poverty issue. Following further hostile publicity and hundreds of angry e-mails from purchasers of the bands, in early November the group of NPOs backtracked and pledged to give $250,000 (30 million yen) to Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, and $50,000 (6 million yen) to various related civil society activities.
While some might see this and other coverage of apparent NPO scandals as evidence of the media hostility towards NPOs, Temple University professor Jeff Kingston stresses that the media in Japan have in general been "cheerleaders for the NPO movement." He says that the media’s support dates back to the 1995 Kobe earthquake when the media contrasted the incompetence of the official response with the effectiveness of volunteer groups. The earthquake was a powerful impetus to the development of the NPO movement.
Kingston noted how publications of differing political perspective support NPOs for their own different reasons. The left-of-center Asahi newspaper supports NPOs as watchdogs and a check on establishment power, but the financial daily Nikkei supports NPOs because they advocate small government. He says if the media focuses on scandals, it is because most of the day-to-day work of NPOs is less obvious and perhaps less likely to sell newspapers. "The media is not well suited to focus on the gradual and incremental changes and mundane work that are ongoing now because they won’t be bearing fruit for 10, 15, 20 years down the road. Ultimately, the media has a short attention span and much of the work of NPOs is not headline-grabbing."
As for NPOs themselves, how they make use of the media particularly the Internet and new media–is likely to have a big influence on the success of their activities. "Create a Web site," said activist Arudou. "You need an information center, and a Web site will act as your 24-hour setter of the record straight. Saves time, energy, and money. It will also give reporters a place to shop for information beforehand. Many reporters write their articles before they even meet you, and are just looking for live quotes." Arudou also recommends that activists build an e-mail list of supporters and journalists. "Takes years before it becomes effective, but I have thousands of recipients (and hopefully readers), some of whom forward around what I write, even to fellow reporters."
So what does the future hold in store for Japan’s NPOs and what role will the media play? In his book Japan’s Quiet Transformation: Social Change and Civil Society in the 21st Century Jeff Kingston argues that the growth of NPOs, as well as new information disclosure legislation and judicial reform, are fundamental changes that are incrementally and fitfully bringing about a quiet transformation of Japanese society. He says that the economically stagnant 1990s, rather than being a "lost decade," were "a time of dynamic transformation and reform."
Kingston argues that the government may do its best to keep NPOs "on a short leash," but are unlikely to be successful in the long run. "I think what the government wants is to control them and decide," he says. "Ultimately, I think society is going to play a role in deciding what role [NPOs] play, and the media will play a big role in shaping people’s awareness of them."
