They must also seriously consider the implication of stories that conflict with the views and interests of their sponsors and advertisers. This stance is related to the fear among editors that groups of both political extremes would resort to intimidation or even violence against reporters and headquarters of newspapers if they do not like certain stories. The source of much of this confusion is this editorial need to evade intimidation from certain groups. As a result, the coverage of domestic issues is incomplete. The national dailies rarely use their agenda-setting power to explore important issues that Diet members or officials have avoided out of fear of stirring up a political hornets' nest.
Reporters have little autonomy, and seemingly even less independent initiative.
Notions of social harmony, enforced from the top down within their institutions, dampen what little investigative ambitions were there to begin with. In this system, reporters from different newspapers are assigned to the hundreds of different agencies of the government, courts, police headquarters, and political party centers, and collaborate in news-gathering methods and social activities. Reporters chat with, ask questions of, and receive answers from information sources in the presence of their colleagues from other news agencies. They all receive the same briefings and materials describing what is to take place on a particular day. The reporters often discuss the stories among themselves, collectively composing the sketch of the story they will all file.