Old media (TV, radio, newspapers) and new media (SNS, web content, other media) #3
Is the government trying to make ‘freedom of speech’ a privilege for old media and a select few high-ranking people ?
It’s just a rumor, but there is information that the government is considering a law to regulate new media.
We believe we can understand how the old media has lost the trust of viewers from the this governor election in Hyogo Prefecture. This is because the old media has lost the trust of viewers due to its long history of biased coverage and its tendency to be strict with others but generous with itself.
In other words, it has nothing to do with new media.
Without understanding this background, it is a very dangerous thing to regulate new media based on the opinions of experts who only look at the period of the electoral campaign.
The transition to communism.
The political party that passes this bill will surely be severely judged by the people in the next election.
I really think it’s a dangerous act.
As I have mentioned before regarding the ‘Hate Speech Bill’, there is a danger that the criteria for determining what is punishable will become ‘who said it’ rather than ‘what was said’ if a law with no criteria for determining what is criminal is enacted.
Depending on the content of the regulations for this new media, it could give people the impression that it is a dictatorship that only allows freedom of speech for the old media.
Furthermore, it is even possible that this bill could be extremely violent, allowing old media to dominate new media and only old media to receive the income.
I will write briefly about the background to this issue.
The old media and commentators who claimed to be fair and neutral only during the election campaign period have been claiming freedom of speech on a daily basis, but they are now saying that new media should be regulated.
In TV program as a typical old media, they have claimed that, unlike new media, they check the facts before broadcasting. However, it seems that there are some news programs that not only have a bias, but also manipulate viewers’ impressions with false content. In fact, a member of a local council and a person criticized by a news program have pointed out that the news program is bias coverage and fake news.
An expert (such as a professor) wrote an article about old media and new media.
Many people don’t distinguish between programs that are during an election campaign and those that are at other times.
However, we feel that many people think that even if this is explained theoretically about contents during the election campaign period without understanding this, it will be off the point, and that no improvements can be found.
First of all, we think that the old media and commentators should understand that they are being continually said to be bias coverage.
We don’t think that the old media should be neutral. We just want them to clarify their own positions and the political parties they support. If they do that, we think that the criticism of biased coverage will decrease significantly.
Old media also includes radio stations and newspapers, not just TV stations.
It seems that some local newspapers tend to be biased in their content. Of course, if all newspapers take the same position, then the options available to readers will be limited. For this reason, I think that they should clearly declare their position and the political party they support.
However, the problem is that they will relentlessly pursue people who think differently to them even if it is just suspicion, but when it comes to people who think the same as them, even if there is a risk of breaking the law, they will not only not take action, but will claim that it is in the public interest and support it.
First of all, shouldn’t such cases be broadcast and criticized? If they can’t do that, then people is saying that they are “strict with others but generous with themselves”. If there is a law that clearly states that “people involved in old media are allowed to breach the law for the public interest”, then we think it is time to show this.
Finally, old media is broadcasting news via new media. Furthermore, there are many commercials.
It seems that old media is trying to regulate ordinary persons while making money with new media.
It seems that the real purpose of the regulations is somewhere else.
Reference: The Yomiuri Shinbun (2025/01/04)
https://www.yomiuri.co.jp/politics/20210518-OYT1T50093
Reference: Sponichi Annex (2025/01/04)
https://www.sponichi.co.jp/entertainment/news/2024/11/18/kiji/20241118s00041000196000c.html
Thanks.
2024/01/05