| Category: | News magazine |
| Frequency: | Weekly |
| Founded: | 1956 |
| Firstdate: | 19 February 1956 |
| Company: | Shincho-sha |
| Country: | Japan |
| Based: | Tokyo |
| Language: | Japanese |
| Website: | Shukan Shincho |
is a Japanese conservative[1] weekly news magazine based in Tokyo, Japan. It is considered one of the most influential weekly magazines in the country and is the first Japanese weekly magazine founded by a publishing company which does not own a major newspaper.[2] [3]
Shūkan Shinchō was first published on 19 February 1956.[4] The cover of the first issue featured an illustration by Japanese artist Rokuro Taniuchi.[4] [5] The magazine is part of Shinchosha, which also founded it, and is published on a weekly basis.[4] Its headquarters is in Tokyo.[6]
Shūkan Shinchō is a general-news magazine, but it targets men.[7] It claims that "[its] average reader is 41.4 years old, 34.2% are white collar, and 60.9% own their own homes" and that "the majority [of its readers] are upper class, wealthy and intellectually inclined".[7] As of 2017 Mark Schreiber, a contributing author of Japan Times, argued that the readers of the magazine are mostly older and retired Japanese men.[8] The major competitor of the magazine is Shūkan Bunshun.[9]
Shūkan Shinchō has a nationalistic and conservative political stance.[7] Shūkan Shinchō and its rival Shūkan Bunshun are the only major "non-establishment" weekly news-magazines that do not feature pornography. This makes them the magazines of choice for men who want to read so-called alternative news (sources other than the major newspapers and broadcasters) but who don't want to look at, or be seen looking at, pornography.[7] As a result, these two Shūkanshi (weekly magazines) are seen as more socially acceptable to read than their rivals.[7] The layouts of these two magazines are also of a better quality than that of their direct competitors.[7] However, these two publications have been described as "especially egregious offenders of journalistic ethics".[7] Shūkan Shinchō is also described as a tabloid magazine by Mainichi Shimbun, a leading Japanese daily.[9] Shūkan Shinchō was found guilty of libel in a Tokyo court for publishing an unsubstantiated allegation of murder by a Soka Gakkai member.[10] The magazine was criticized in 2001 for sensationalistic stories regarding a disputed Paleolithic settlement site in Japan.[11] It has also been rebuked for publishing the names and photographs of minors who have been accused of criminal acts, even before their trials began.[6]
From October 2014 to September 2015 Shūkan Shinchō was the ninth-best selling magazine in Japan with a circulation of 537,596 copies.[12]