"Mutouha-sou" News as a Media Event

Abstract

"Mutouha-sou" is the most important word in Japanese journalism after local elections in 1995. This word consists of two meanings: there is a group of people without party affiliation and that the number of individual voters have no party affiliation is considerable. This double-sensed word enabled the news media to focus on the discussion centered on the criticism against the established party system. In this paper, "Mutouha-sou" in the news from the media and political viewpoints is discussed. Based on the results of the auther's survey and also a case study of newspapers, letters to the editor, the auther concludes that which people participated in this media event together, they had different opinions. These findings suggest the potentialities and limitations of media events, and some problematic issues about journalism.