Comprehensive study on structural and institutional reform of mass media organizations in Japan After the 3/11 Great East Japan Earthquake

Abstract

　The Great East Japan Earthquake taking place on 11th March, 2011 and the following Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident have become a touchstone that called the Japanese mass media system into question ; namely "What and how mass media should report in case of catastrophic disaster?" "How media organizations should be reorganized?" "How mass media must prepare for possible next disasters?" These wide range of questions require comprehensive examinations based on the various points of view, such as Media Industry Study, Journalism Study and Disaster Coverage. In this report I rely on executive interviews with major national media executives that went as the first step of the comprehensive research, which is to study how they are preparing for next disasters and in what way they are inheriting what they have learned from 3.11 coverage to the next generation of journalists. It appears that problems Japanese mass media face to are the current state of readiness maintenance that does not progress because of the size of the nationwide organizations, and the obstacles in the inheritance efforts which tend to be largely influenced by the human element of the leaders, not the organizations.