Articles
The Way and Resources of Public Broadcasting
Receiving theSupreme Court Decision on the NHK Receiving Fee Lawsuit
2019 Volume 95 Pages 87-105
Details
2019 Volume 95 Pages 87-105
This report examines the Supreme Court decision （December 6, 2017） on
the receiving fee lawsuit of the Japan Broadcasting Corporation （NHK）, and
considers the way public broadcasting and receiving fees should be.
The Supreme Court of Japan decided that there is a legal obligation to conclude
a receiving contract, but this judgment must be said to be anachronism in
that it does not take into account the trend in the latest theories and the
changes in the broadcasting environment. The judgment raises two problems.
The first is that the suspicion of the violation of the constitution cannot be
wiped out, and the second is that the rights of viewers may be lost and the way
of public broadcasting may be distorted.
The most important role of public broadcasting is to monitor the public
power as a journalism institution, but it is hard to say that NHK plays such a
role. The viewer can correct the attitude of NHK by refusing to pay the receiving
fee. In order not to prevent the exercise of such viewer sovereignty, the
conclusion of the receiving contract should be interpreted as an effort, not a
legal obligation.
