Media and politics in Japan
By: edited by Susan J. Pharr and Ellis S. Krauss.
Contributors: Pharr, Susan J.; Krauss, Ellis S.
Publisher: University of Hawai'i Press
Published: 1996
Place of publication: Honolulu
Language: eng
Number of pages: 389
Subjects: Mass media -- Political aspects -- Japan.; Japan -- Politics and government -- 1945-
Description: Japan is one of the most media-saturated societies in the world. The circulations of its "big five" national newspapers dwarf those of any major American newspaper. NHK, its public service broadcasting agency, is second only to the BBC in size. And it has a full range of commercial television stations, high-brow and low-brow magazines (from widely read intellectual journals to the ubiquitous manga, or adult comic books), and a large antimainstream media and mini-media.

Japanese elites, surveys show, rate the mass media as the most influential group in Japanese society. But what role do they play in political life? Whose interests do the media serve? As Japan's critics often hold, are they mainly servants of the state? Or are they watchdogs on behalf of the public, as the media themselves claim and as suggested by their role in uncovering late eighties and early nineties political scandals and in triggering political change in the summer of 1993?

And what effects do the media have on the political beliefs and behavior of ordinary Japanese people?

These questions, central for interpreting the media's role in any industrial society, are the focus of this collection of essays by leading political scientists, sociologists, social psychologists, and journalists.

Japan's unique kisha (press) club system, its powerful media business organizations, the uses of the media by Japan's wily bureaucrats, and the role of the media in everything from political scandals to shaping public opinion, are among the many subjects of this insightful and provocative book.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Media and politics in Japan : historical and contemporary perspectives / Susan J. Pharr; title: Media as trickster in Japan : A comparative perspective / Susan J. Pharr; title: Mass media as business organizations : a U.S.-Japancomparison / D. Eleanor Westney; title: Portraying the state : NHK television news and politics / Ellis S. Krauss; title: Japan's press and the politics of scandal / Maggie Farley; title: Television and political turmoil : Japan's summer of 1993 / Kristin Kyoko Altman; title: Media and policy change in Japan / John Creighton Campbell; title: Media and political protest : the bullet train movements / David Earl Groth; title: Media coverage of U.S.-Japan relations / Ellis S. Krauss; title: Media exposure and the quality of political participation in Japan / Scott C. Flanagan; title: Media in electoral campaigning in Japan and the United States / Hiroshi Akuto; title: Media agenda setting in a local election : the Japanese case / Toshio Takeshita and Ikuo Takeuchi; title: The mass media and Japanese politics : effects and consequences / Ellis S. Krauss.