In Japan’s international news coverage, there is a certain bias in the regions and topics that are reported, as GNV has previously covered. News from Asia, which is geographically close to Japan—especially China and the Korean Peninsula—is frequently featured, and even when the distance is great, advanced countries with deep political and economic ties, such as the United States and Europe, are also often covered. So what share of international reporting is taken up by coverage of events or countries that actually involve “Japan” (for example, reporting on bilateral relations, international conferences attended by Japanese cabinet ministers, incidents in which Japanese nationals were injured, the comfort women issue, etc.)? We analyzed the proportion of Japan-related coverage in international news using GNV data (for 2015).

The figure above shows the share of international news that involves Japan at the country, government, corporate, or individual level. As you can see, Asahi Shimbun: 16.8%, Yomiuri Shimbun: 19.4%, Mainichi Shimbun: 19.7%—while Asahi’s figure is slightly lower, there was no major difference among the papers. Whether these figures should be considered high is debatable. However, considering that international news accounts for about 10% of all coverage, the fact that articles in which “Japan” does not come up amount to less than 8% of total coverage is something readers should keep in mind.

Next, what kinds of topics are most common within Japan-related international news? We examined the distribution by field for Japan-related international coverage reported by the Asahi Shimbun, Yomiuri Shimbun, and Mainichi Shimbun in 2015.

In all three papers, politics was the most covered field, followed by economics and war/conflict. In the distribution of topics across all international news, the three papers are ordered by share as politics, war/conflict, society, economy, and incidents/accidents (Note 1). Compared with that, in Japan-related news, except for the Asahi Shimbun, economic topics were reported more than war/conflict, revealing a difference. (The Asahi Shimbun ran more special feature articles such as “70 years after the war” than the other papers, which likely increased the share of war/conflict.) Frequently covered political topics included prime ministerial meetings and international conferences; specific issues included the Northern Territories issue and the comfort women issue. In economics, TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership) stood out overwhelmingly, with more than 25% on average across the three papers (about 40% in the Mainichi Shimbun) being about TPP.

Let us shift perspective and look at the share of Japan-related stories within reporting on countries that receive a large volume of international coverage and are politically and economically close to Japan. Here, we examine the TOP5 countries that appeared in international news in 2015 (the United States, China, France, South Korea, Russia).

As can be seen from the figure above, France is low at 9%, while the United States, China, and Russia all settled at around 20% Japan-related coverage. The standout is South Korea. With many reports on the comfort women issue and Japan–U.S.–South Korea talks, more than 46% of all coverage of South Korea was Japan-related, far exceeding other countries. This means that half of the image of South Korea portrayed by the media is seen through the lens of “Japan,” raising concerns about whether we are able to grasp South Korea from an objective perspective.

In this analysis we looked only at countries with large volumes of coverage when calculating the share of Japan-related news, but when looking across all countries worldwide by the share of Japan-related articles, there were countries that far exceeded South Korea. For example, countries such as Palau and Tonga drew attention due to visits by the Emperor of Japan, and more than 80% of their coverage was Japan-related. Albania and Samoa were reported only once regarding the opening of a new Japanese embassy, recording a 100% share of Japan-related articles in their total coverage. In other words, without a connection to Japan, those countries were barely, if ever, reported on. Looking at the share of Japan-related articles in this way reveals that even for countries that appear frequently in international news and that we feel we know well, the majority of coverage may actually be through the lens of “Japan.” And even when there are a few reports, only events that involve “Japan” in some way may be covered, falling short of enabling an understanding of that country or region.

As long as people live in society and interact with others, it is very important to consider things from the other party’s perspective. The same can be said when the lens is that of a “country.” As globalization advances and the importance of the international community grows, it is important—just as at the individual level—not only to look from the perspective of “Japan,” but also from the counterpart’s perspective and from objective viewpoints that transcend concepts such as nation-states and borders. Moreover, even if there is no direct connection now, in order to understand and respond appropriately when something related to Japan occurs in an unexpected place, objective information gathered on a daily basis is essential. The world is vast, and we must not forget that events in any country or region can affect our daily lives.

Footnotes

Note 1: The five categories in the graph encompass the following content.

See “GNV Data Analysis Method [PDF]”

Politics: politics

War/Conflict: war/conflict, military, terrorism, demonstrations/riots

Society: sports, science/technology, environment/pollution, education, arts/culture, society/life, health/medical care

Economy: economy

Incidents/Accidents: incidents/accidents, weather/disasters

Writer: Hiro Kijima

Graphics: Hiro Kijima