公共放送のあり方と財源

NHK 受信料訴訟最高裁判決を受けて

抄録

　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.