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A weak explanation – To lose sight of the essentials is to lose the meaning as well.

I am surprised to see some news.
Regarding the attack on the Zaporizha nuclear power plant in Ukraine, both the Russia and Ukraine are accusing the other country of attacking there.
A member of the House of Councillors has repeatedly claimed about this attack “that Japanese news outlets overwhelmingly deals with announcements from the Ukrainian side and less with those from the Russian side,” and that this reporting stance is a problem.
He seems to think that the current reporting stance is not fair, and he reportedly questions “Is it correct to understand that Ukraine is good and Russia is bad”. Also he reportedly mentioned “I don’t think we should make judgements based on the current incorrect information.”
I would like to know on what basis he determined the announcements to be incorrect.

Is this attack separate from the Russian invasion of Ukraine ?

Certainly, if it were a normal matter, there is justice on both sides as he pointed out, and we would think that the media should listen to both sides before reporting on the issue.
However, we should consider exactly what the starting point of this issue is. In the first place, if Russia had not invaded Ukraine, this discussion would not be taking place at all. 
He said just after the invasion of Ukraine that Ukraine and the U.S. are also to blame for the invasion. In other words, he seemed to be saying that he could understand why Russia would slaughter the Ukrainians.
This may be just our interpretation, but we felt he was saying, in a way, that the slaughter of the Ukrainians was acceptable.
However, I think I can understand his thoughts on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine from his comments.

Again, if Russia had not invaded Ukraine, this discussion had not being take place at all.

To change the subject a bit, in recent years, due to the content of TV programs (morning and afternoon programs) and the way of thinking of their performers, as well as the development of SNS, we see various opinions expressed not only on current issues but also on personal issues (of both public figures and celebrities).
In most cases, the people commenting are celebrities, including entertainers, academics, and experts.
And in many cases, this is probably a category that is treated as freedom of speech.
However, we often see them on TV programs, repeatedly making extremely intense criticisms (which could be called “character assassination” from the contents of the talk) against public figures and celebrities whose the way of thinking and ideologies are different from their own. 
Furthermore, they do not accept to discuss with public figures and celebrities who have different the way of thinking and ideologies, and sometimes declare different the way of thinking and ideologies to be wrong. (Many of these people say accept diversity.)

Many of the matters that are posited as problems involve parties on both sides of the problem. We believe that the media should provide the correct information from both of those perspectives. (maybe this way of thinking is wrong?).
Also, since they are claiming the importance of democracy and diversity including LGBT issue in the same TV program, they must understand that there are many different ways of thinking and ideologies. However, it is also true that commentators may make comments with a bias toward their own way of thinking and ideology.
However, a statement made on a TV program is not a personal statement. Both broadcasters and commentators should understand that it should be treated as the official statement of that broadcaster.
In addition, they sometimes take up the issue of bullying problem of children. And when there is inadequacy in handling the bullying issue, they criticize the person handling the issue severely.
Just imagine if children did the exact same behaviors as these TV programs to one particular child, wouldn’t that be called bullying?
Or the media are special and would think that they are allowed to do whatever they want ?
Do they think that their own ways of thinking and ideologies are justice, and that their strong criticism (which can sometimes be considered “slander/character assassination”) according to their justice is completely fine, even if it is severe ?

In our opinion, this is a double standard.

Even if there is freedom of speech, the statements of TV programs and the statements of celebrities have a huge impact on viewers, and they should consider that they need to be careful about what they say.

Thanks.
2022/09/24