Instructed by GHQ, censored by GHQ, the radio during the occupation was, in a word, an “American radio.” The first part of this series examined the two aspects of “American radio.” On one hand radio was a driving force for democracy, and on the other hand it embodied the nature of the occupation forces, which did not allow atomic bombing damages or crimes committed by US soldiers to be reported. Interviewees who were at the actual broadcasting sites vividly talked about their experience. This second part focuses on the transformation in the US occupation policies as well as how the end of occupation influenced broadcasting. When the wartime radio broadcasting demised, both theoretically and practically, towards what direction did NHK start walking?

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What mechanism is working when news is being recognized as having influenced society and a social policy? This paper aims to find an answer to this question by analyzing news reporting on a specific case. For the analysis, insights from previous studies such as “media framing” and “agenda-setting model” were referred to. The case covered in this paper involves the news on medical workers under the coronavirus pandemic, especially on those dubbed “unpaid doctors.” “Unpaid doctors” mean overworked young doctors treating patients at university hospitals with no guarantee of salaries and appropriate working conditions. Although they are playing a significant role, their existence has been much overlooked. In April 2020, while hospitals were overwhelmed by the coronavirus pandemic, “unpaid doctors” had no choice but to treat coronavirus-related patients with safety and payment not guaranteed. Having found out these facts, multiple TV stations reported their plight. It is revealed that, the policy authorities swiftly took action to improve their working conditions in response to the news. The author analyzed the news programs and found that those stories shared the same media frame (cognitive frame) of “it is important to support medical workers, and this should apply to those called “unpaid doctors,” who must also be properly supported.” The author also analyzed news stories on “unpaid doctors” aired not only during but also before the coronavirus pandemic, which revealed that the power of news in unison had been contributing to gradually improving the working conditions of “unpaid doctors,” albeit insufficient. It is to the extent that not paying for these doctors is regarded as illegal now. These analyses tell that news reports may have an impact on society and social policies through the following mechanism. The mechanism works as (1) multiple media share a frame on what the issue is, (2) this generates concentrated reporting, and (3) these reports question the justification of the policy and advocate the policy authorities to make changes.

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This paper reports the current status of young children's viewing of TV in real time and of recorded programs, DVDs, and internet videos based on the “Rating Survey on Young Children's TV Viewing” held in June 2021. The survey was conducted over a week from June 28th (Monday) through July 4th (Sunday), aiming at 1,000 young children aged two through six living within 30km radius of Tokyo. The survey finds young children's viewing time of television (real-time viewing) per day was 57 minutes, with 19 minutes for recorded programs/DVDs (time-shifted viewing) and 33 minutes for internet videos (respective weekly average). In terms of weekday ratings (utilization rates) by 30 minutes, the aggregated ratings for real-time TV viewing between 8:00am and 8:30am dropped from 2019 while the figures for internet viewing rose between 8:00am and 8:30am, 4:00pm and 5:30pm, and 6:00pm and 8:30pm, which shows the growing presence of internet videos. Regarding most-watched content, top ten TV titles were all NHK ETV programs for young children and/or children. Most-watched recorded programs included titles that were not rated high for real-time viewing such as “Anpanman,” and most-watched internet videos included YouTube original content originated from TV programs such as “Pokémon.” For parents' attitudes, the survey finds a tendency that internet videos were received more negatively than TV programs were. However, compared to 2019, negative opinions for the internet videos decreased and positive ones increased. Comparing weekday media use of nursery school children with that of kindergarten children, differences were found in their ratings and viewing hours of TV programs as well as of internet videos, influenced by the difference in time use in their daily lives.

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