Abstract
The Broadcasting Act of Japan stipulates that broadcasters must “be politically fair” in Article 4. Amid debates on this term unfolding anew at the Diet and on other occasions, Yoshiharu Kawabata, a lawyer who served as chairperson of the Broadcasting Ethics Committee of the Broadcasting Ethics & Program Improvement Organization (BPO) for a long term, gave a lecture to a study group on “Media and Law” of The National Council to Promote Ethics of Mass Media in May 2023. This paper overviews his speech. Reflecting the fact that the pre-war mass media cooperated with the military and did not provide accurate information, the Broadcasting Act was enacted by paying utmost respect for the editorial freedom of broadcasters on the ground of the principle of political impartiality and autonomy and independence. How have the government views on the “program editing standards” of Article 4 including “be politically fair” changed over time? How should the media respond to the new challenge of prevailing distrust of the media among information recipients and how can they regain trust as truth-telling organs of public opinion? The paper examines what message the former chairperson of BPO convey to active journalists.
