GNV has conducted various studies on what becomes news in the international reporting of Japanese media. One trend that has emerged is that coverage tends to increase for issues that appear on the agenda at forums such as the G7 summit (leaders’ meeting※1). A good example is that “Global South” was selected as one of the themes at the G7 leaders’ summit in 2023 and suddenly began to be used in Japanese news.

As GNV’s past research has shown, Japanese media tend to report on developments in high-income countries and actors with authority, which may make themes raised at the G7 more likely to attract media interest. This time, we conducted a study based on the question: “Are topics handled at the G7 more likely to become news?”

Then–UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak delivering a statement to the media at the G7 held in 2021 (Photo: HMTreasury / Flickr [CC BY-NC-ND 2.0])

Do issues that become G7 agenda items make the news?

The case of Global South reporting mentioned at the outset shows that, although the term “Global South” emerged in 1969 and had hardly been referenced in Japanese media, when then–Prime Minister Fumio Kishida began using the word “Global South” in connection with the 2023 G7 in Hiroshima, the media responded by adopting it as well.

If the increased use of the term “Global South” had led to greater interest in Global South countries and more reporting on their challenges, it could have been a first step toward more comprehensive coverage of the world. However, GNV’s research found that despite the rise in use of the term, much of the coverage focused on situations such as the Russia–Ukraine war rather than directly reporting on the circumstances of Global South countries. Furthermore, “Global South,” which peaked in print appearances around the May 2023 G7 Hiroshima Summit, fell off in print along with the close of the summit.

A trend similar to Global South coverage appears in reporting on plastic waste. The plastic issue itself did not start recently. In Japan, plastics were identified as one of the causes of pollution from the 1960s to the 1970s. Since the 1980s, in order to improve the quality of recyclable waste, waste sorting has been promoted nationwide, and the concept of recycling plastics has spread widely. More recently, the international move by China—which had been importing plastic waste from Europe and the United States as a resource—to impose restrictions on plastic waste imports in 2017 drew significant attention globally.

Meanwhile, if we look at the volume of international reporting on the plastic issue in Japan’s three major dailies (Asahi Shimbun, Mainichi Shimbun, and Yomiuri Shimbun), coverage was minimal up to 2017, surged in 2018, peaked in 2019, and has declined again since 2020. At the June 2018 G7 Summit in Charlevoix, Canada, marine plastics were a major theme, and five countries—the UK, France, Germany, Italy, and Canada—plus the EU (excluding Japan and the United States) signed the Ocean Plastics Charter indicating they would strengthen their domestic plastic regulations. A past GNV study pointed out, by comparing the word counts of articles on plastic waste before and after the summit, that the G7 was a major turning point.

The following year, in 2019, the G20 (Summit on Financial Markets and the World Economy) held in Osaka adopted the “Osaka Blue Ocean Vision,” which aims to reduce additional pollution from marine plastic litter to zero by 2050. Of the 45 plastic waste articles in 2019, 12 across the three newspapers had “G20” in their headlines. Looking at word counts, 19,899 characters were devoted to plastic waste reporting in June, when the G20 was held—nearly equal to the combined 23,090 characters for all other months that year. This suggests the opening of the G20 and the discussion of plastic waste there cannot be considered unrelated to the surge in coverage.

The Paris Agreement and the G7: A case

The two cases above looked at issues that were on the G7 or G20 agenda and drew media attention around the same time. One possibility that emerges is that topics addressed at the G7 are likely to draw media attention. We therefore narrowed our focus to several issues handled at the G7 and tracked the peaks in coverage volume (number of articles) in the three major dailies from 2015 to 2023 (※2). We found that the period when issues were raised at the G7 did not necessarily coincide with the period of heaviest coverage.

One issue that appeared on the G7 agenda but whose period of media attention diverged significantly is the Paris Agreement. The Paris Agreement is an international climate treaty adopted in December 2015 at COP21 by 196 Parties. It sets targets of “holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels” and “pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.” In the “G7 Elmau Summit Leaders’ Declaration” at the G7 summit held in 2015 in Elmau, France, the importance of a framework for climate change to be agreed at COP21 in Paris in December of that year had already been noted. However, the term “Paris Agreement” was not yet in use at the time of the 2015 G7. For that reason, the G7 cannot be considered to have influenced 2015 reporting; the year saw 18 articles (22,873 characters) related to the Paris Agreement. Although adopted with the support of as many as 196 countries, that scale of support is not readily apparent from the coverage volume; given that adoption occurred in December, the short reporting window may have contributed to the low volume.

Then–Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff delivering a speech at COP21 held in 2015 (Photo: Agência Brasil / Wikimedia Commons [CC BY 3.0 br])

In 2016, there were 94 articles (72,647 characters), and in 2017, 102 (86,143 characters), showing steady increases in both the number of articles and word count, suggesting media interest grew gradually after the December 2015 adoption.

A closer look at 2016 shows that of the 94 articles, 20 ran in September, 22 in October, and 35 in November—rising toward November, when the Paris Agreement entered into force. Focusing on the headlines indicates the media’s attention was not necessarily on the Paris Agreement itself. In 2016, there were 20 articles (22,272 characters) whose headlines included both the Paris Agreement and “U.S.” (meaning the United States in this context). Eleven articles (11,375 characters) had headlines including both the Paris Agreement and “Trump.” November 2016 was also the month of the U.S. presidential election, and candidate (later President) Trump’s announcement of withdrawal from the Paris Agreement appears to have drawn major media attention. This tendency was even more pronounced in 2017: of the 102 articles that included the Paris Agreement in the headline, more than half—59 articles (58,326)—also included “U.S.” in the headline. The name “Trump” also appeared in the headlines of 11 articles (6,722 characters).

Meanwhile, although the “G7 Leaders’ Communiqué” from the 2022 G7 in Elmau, Germany included a “Climate, Energy” section with references to the Paris Agreement, coverage amounted to just one article (589 characters). And at the 2023 G7 in Hiroshima, Japan, the term “Paris Agreement” appeared 10 times in the central outcome document, the “G7 Hiroshima Leaders’ Communiqué,” but among the articles examined there were none in 2023 that included the Paris Agreement in the headline. In short, concentrated media attention to the Paris Agreement seems to have been driven by the remarks of one individual—“Trump” of the “U.S.”

Of course, if a country with the economic weight of the United States withdraws from the Paris Agreement, the impact would be significant. But even excluding the United States, there are 195 other countries that support it. Emphasizing the perspective of Japanese news organizations, Japan has also signed and declared its commitment, making the Agreement itself an important topic. If the goal is to understand the essence of the Paris Agreement’s ambitious targets and the global moves to realize them, it is important for the public to learn about the efforts of the 195 countries other than the U.S., as well as the current state of climate change that necessitated the Agreement.

Debt-issue coverage and the G7: A case

Even before COVID-19 began to affect the entire world, middle- and low-income countries, where economic growth had been slowing, were seeing a rise in external debt as a share of gross national income. The pandemic that began in early 2020 severely hit societies and economies worldwide, inflicting serious impacts on middle- and low-income countries already grappling with debt problems. At the 2021 G7 in Cornwall, UK, low-income debt issues were on the agenda. Based on IMF estimates that $200 billion would be needed to respond to COVID-19 in low-income countries and $250 billion to narrow the gap between low- and high-income countries, the G7 reaffirmed the Common Framework for Debt Treatments beyond the DSSI. The DSSI temporarily deferred public debt payments by low-income countries; by the end of the DSSI period in 2021, payments totaling $12.9 billion by 50 countries had been deferred.

Group photo of leaders of invited countries at the G7 held in Cornwall (Photo: Prime Minister’s Office website / Wikimedia Commons [CC BY 4.0])

However, looking at headlines including the keyword “debt” across the three papers from 2015 to 2023, the most articles ran in 2023, with 82 (69,047 characters). In 2021, when the G7 confirmed debt-payment deferrals for low-income countries, there were 40 such articles (24,556 characters)—about half the number of 2023, with less than 40% of the word count. Looking at 2021 coverage, 15 articles (6,932 characters) included “U.S.” along with “debt,” which turned out to be about the domestic U.S. debate over raising the debt ceiling limit. Another 16 articles (12,446) included the character “China,” reporting on issues such as the worsening business conditions and defaults of the Chinese real estate developer Evergrande, as well as China’s lending of external debt.

Looking at 2023 headlines on debt, “U.S.” again stands out, appearing in 51 articles (42,016 characters). In 2023, the United States engaged in a debate over raising the federal debt ceiling. Many of the 2023 articles with “debt” and “U.S.” in the headline reported on the domestic U.S. situation. In other words, the debt problems of a single country—the United States—attracted more attention than the multitude of low-income debt issues discussed at the G7. Here, too, we see the strong focus on U.S. developments in Japan’s international reporting.

International reporting that fails to realize its potential?

This study revealed that even topics discussed at international meetings of high-income countries such as the G7 do not necessarily attract media attention. Of course, as noted at the outset, the G7 summit can trigger Japanese media interest. However, at a G7 summit where multiple issues are discussed, not all agenda items become focal points of coverage. In fact, the cases here reconfirm the outsized influence of the United States in international news coverage: even when issues are raised at the G7, they may not be covered in the G7 context but instead be discussed through the lens of the U.S. GNV has previously analyzed the relationship between Japanese media and the U.S., and these findings add new examples to that body of research.

Given the major political and economic influence of the United States on Japanese society, developments there may be seen by Japanese media as having high news value. But the U.S. is not the only country affecting Japan. And when issues transcend borders—such as climate change behind the Paris Agreement—simply tracking U.S. developments not only makes it difficult to convey the world comprehensively, it also hinders understanding of the issues.

Even for issues that may not seem directly tied to readers’ daily lives—such as low-income country debt—reporting can foster interest and lead to some kind of action toward solutions. International reporting has the potential to energize people who seek to change current systems and structures and move the world in a better direction by shedding light on global challenges—but if it keeps chasing only the U.S., it will struggle to realize that power.

※1 While “leaders’ meeting” is used here following the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Japanese translation of the G7, the participants are not necessarily limited to the heads of each country. The term “Summit of Major Industrial Countries” is also commonly used, but what constitutes “major” is open to debate. For example, viewed in terms of world population, the combined population of G7 countries is less than 10% of the global total.

※2 This study examined changes from 2015 to 2023 in the number of articles and total word counts for headlines including relevant keywords, using the national morning editions of the Asahi Shimbun, Mainichi Shimbun, and Yomiuri Shimbun. Word counts refer to the combined characters of articles whose headlines contained the target keywords.

Writer: Azusa Iwane

Graphics: Virgil Hawkins

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