Positionality of Okinawan Local Newspapers Relating to theRole of Journalism

Abstract

　This paper aims to consider the role of local journalism from the positionality

of Okinawan newspapers concerning what is called “Okinawa Problem”

（Okinawa-mondai,）, especially problems related to the U.S. military base in

Okinawa.

　　When a U.S. military helicopter crashed over Okinawa International University

in the summer of 2004, the accident was reported as a news event with

important and contrasting differences between the articles of mainland media

and Okinawan media. It can be considered that these differences were generated

by their different standards of news values and the differences in the positionality

of the event as news media.

　In this paper, I try to explain the positionality and the role of Okinawan

local newspapers, namely Ryukyu Simpo and Okinawa Times, in taking up the

news event of the rape and murder of a woman by a U.S. military contractor

that occurred in the spring of 2016, and by analyzing the news reports, special

features, and editorials relating to the Okinawa mass protest rallies on June 19

against the vicious crime.

　　Results of my research show that both newspapers are positioned not only

as “agents” embodying and reflecting “the will of the people,” the sentiments

and thoughts of Okinawan people who have been forced to bear the heavy burden

of U.S. military bases, but also as “parties involved” standing on the same

side as the Okinawan people or sitting close together, by always reporting baserelated

problems like accidents, crimes, noise pollution, and environmental

destruction that affect their living space.