"Too Clubby in Japan?"

[Taro Toporific]

LETTER FROM ASIA
Officialdom and the Press: Too Clubby in Japan?New York Times (incestuous registration required) May 19, 2004
TOKYO --Two of Japan's most powerful politicians were forced to resign earlier this month after revelations that they had failed to make mandatory payments to the national pension system.... when Mr. Koizumi finally revealed that he had not made a payment for close to seven years, the big media outlets reported the news but did not follow it up with hard reporting about how he could have misled the public.
In Japan, the government and big media outlets have always been close, a coziness institutionalized by the press club system in which members exclude other journalists and, in return for exclusive information from government agencies, tend to stick to the government line. It is an entrenched cartel, barely challenged here, even as South Korea, which inherited the press club as a Japanese colonial legacy, began dismantling it last year.....
The Newspaper Publishers and Editors Association defends the system, saying that reporters have been able to extract information from government precisely by joining forces....
Not one reporter from Japan's major media is covering events today in Samawah, where Japanese troops are engaged ......The result is that reporting on the troops' conduct and Samawah's worsening security situation has been virtually nonexistent. Instead, Japan's big media outlets have dutifully repeated the government's assertion that the troops are still in a noncombat zone. The television networks use film supplied by the Self-Defense Forces.

[Taro Toporific]

Whoa.. Ignore this post.. The screen's flippin' out..

Are ya sure it ain't the whales doing the flippin'?

[GuyJean]

I don't know what happened. My screen started screamin' code.. It scared me..

What I meant to say was....

.... when Mr. Koizumi finally revealed that he had not made a payment for close to seven years, the big media outlets reported the news but did not follow it up with hard reporting about how he could have misled the public..

Why doesn't the DPJ refuse Kahn's resignation until Koizumi explains himself.

So far, Koizumi's spin is, "Because I 'overlooked' paying into the pension system is an indication of how 'confusing' the system is. This is the exact reason we must reform the system to make it less 'confusing'.".. What a jerkoff.. And what's the next question the press asks? "Ok, what kind of reform?"

The Japanese press are a bunch of yes-monkeys..

Guess the police never found anything in their raid of Mori, the kid killer's office.. Cause it aint in the press!!.. TIJmagine that..

GJ

[Taro Toporific]

The Japanese press are a bunch of yes-monkeys..
Guess the police never found anything in their raid of Mori, the kid killer's office.. Cause it aint in the press!!.. TIJmagine that..

MIA news reports this week....

---> Lucy Blackman murder case is on trial...not a squeek by yes-monkeys.

---> Not one Japanese press source has tried to compile a complete list or scorecard of all non-pension payers in the Diet.

---> Japanese Sankei Shimbun reports Syrian-NK explosion connection and the Worldtribune.com says U.S. officials have confirmed it .... not a word a thanks to my cousin John in north-asia desk of the NSA.

[Captain Japan]

I don't know what happened. My screen started screamin' code.. It scared me..

What I meant to say was....

.... when Mr. Koizumi finally revealed that he had not made a payment for close to seven years, the big media outlets reported the news but did not follow it up with hard reporting about how he could have misled the public..

Why doesn't the DPJ refuse Kahn's resignation until Koizumi explains himself.

When the first two jackasses resigned at the beginning of this scandal, there was a hilarious - not intentionally - article in the Asahi. It was trying to explain how the resignations came about and referenced an article in a weekly that had gone ahead and found that these crumbs hadn't paid into the pension system. By doing this - and not doing any kind of reporting on its own - the Asahi was basically saying: fuck us and get all the real news from the weeklies, and don't miss the big-titted women on the covers. (Ok, I made the second part up.)

[GuyJean]

MIA news reports this week....

---> Lucy Blackman murder case is on trial...not a squeek by yes-monkeys.

---> Not one Japanese press source has tried to compile a complete list or scorecard of all non-pension payers in the Diet.

---> Japanese Sankei Shimbun reports Syrian-NK explosion connection and the Worldtribune.com says U.S. officials have confirmed it .... not a word a thanks to my cousin John in north-asia desk of the NSA.

wow... Gee, Taro. You're good..

It would be cool to have a sticky thread for "MIA News", or "News Ignored by Japanese Yes-Monkeys"... Well, I guess "Fucked News" about sums it up..

GJ

[Taro Toporific]

Double Penetration..
(Ha! My DP pushed me over 1,000!)

DP DELETED.

Nah, GJ meant DU just like the Depleted Uranium munitions dump the Japanese Self Defense Forces have been sitting on for the past months which Japanese press has not mentioned one word about.

[GuyJean]

Sorry man, you can't inflate your post count with DPs. You're back to upside-down 666.

Well actually, I tried deleting my post, but got "you are not allowed to delete posts in this thread."... So, I thought you were givin' to me.

Ha! broke 1,000 without DPing her!

GJ

[GuyJean]

ARRRGGGGGHHHHHH!!!

Don't fret]Maybe I can search back through all your posts and find some more DPs to delete... [/quote]I don't think I have many. I usually fill the posts with crap of some sort, if I DP.. (Eeeew. That sentence's gross).. Of course, now how are you going to tell the difference from an actual and DP post?

GJ

[kamome]

Congratulations, GJ, on finally getting to 1000 (that is, assuming ultra allows previous DP's to remain intact).

I'm pushing 2000!

[GuyJean]

I'm pushing 2000!

Yeah, but you had a 12-day head start on me.

GJ

[kamome]

I'm pushing 2000!

Yeah, but you had a 12-day head start on me.

GJ

Not even Taro himself could post 1000 messages in 12 days....could he?

[Taro Toporific]

I'm pushing 2000!

Yeah, but you had a 12-day head start on me.

Not even Taro himself could post 1000 messages in 12 days....could he?

Wanna bet? :P

{{Don't worry. Although I'm now averaging 40 post a day and could double that, Vodaphone has me rewriting their new 3-G keitai manual (300+ pages) next week so I'll won't bore ya with 24/7 Taro News(tm).}}

[Taro Toporific]

The Japanese press are a bunch of yes-monkeys..

I guess this os what happens if the Yes-Monkeys tell the truth.

Koizumi aide oversteps line in threat against TV network
The Asahi Shimbun/IHT May 21, 2004
Isao Iijima had long remained in the background as an aide to Junichiro Koizumi... Iijima apparently tried to send a message to the media by threatening to ban a TV network from covering Koizumi's trip to Pyongyang, the 58-year-old aide was thrust in the spotlight as a bully and oppressor of information. ...
... Iijima called NTV executives Sunday night after a news report indicated that Japan was in the final stages of agreeing to provide 250,000 tons in rice assistance to North Korea if the eight family members of Japanese returnees are allowed to come to Japan.
The NTV report also said there was strong opposition within the government and ruling coalition toward extending any aid to North Korea until the abduction issue was completely settled.
It is not exactly clear what offended Iijima, but he called the political news editor at NTV and demanded that the story be retracted. ....
....On Wednesday, NTV said in a statement: ``Although the issue has been resolved, we cannot let go unchallenged the effort to exclude us from reporting on a diplomatic issue because of a certain report and to ask us for the source of that report. Such retaliation against news reporting limits the people's right to know and infringes on the freedom of the press.''
Takaaki Hattori, a professor of media studies at Rikkyo University, said the issue should not end here.
``It can be called intimidation of the media. Koizumi has a responsibility to explain Iijima's actions,'' he said. ``If this stance is allowed, there is the danger that such action could be repeated.''