Weekly magazines in Japan explained

The term generally refers to weekly magazines published in Japan, including politically provocative weekly tabloid newspapers.

As noted by Watanabe and Gamble in the Japan Media Review and in their book A Public Betrayed, the genre is "often described as bizarre blends of various types of U.S. magazines, such as Newsweek, The New Yorker, People, Penthouse, and The National Enquirer.[1]

In Japan, weekly magazines have been a source of anti-semitic articles, including Shukan Bunshun, Marco Polo, and Shukan Shincho, which have repeatedly published articles denying the Holocaust.[2] Such magazines have also been source for articles that disparage neighboring countries, especially towards South Korea,[3] as well as invasions of privacy towards celebrities; for instance, Bubka was subject of a lawsuit for their 2002 publication of unauthorized childhood photos of several female idols.[4] Shukan Shincho was ordered by the Supreme Court of Japan to pay damages to a Soka Gakkai member for publishing an unsubstantiated allegation of murder,[5] and has been criticized for sensationalistic stories regarding a disputed Paleolithic settlement site in Japan.[6] The magazine has also been rebuked for publishing the names and photographs of minors who have been accused of criminal acts, even before their trials began.[7]

Reliability

Alongside a small percentage of solid investigative reporting, tabloids publish celebrity stories constructed from anonymously obtained "leaks" to fill their pages. The habit of publishing information that is already known but written in deliberately emphatic tones to make it appear as sensational news is also common. Variants of sensationalism are interviewing neighbors and acquaintances of the person concerned and reconstructing his entire family history by deliberately emphasizing some details and leaving out others to obtain the most sensationalistic portrait possible of the protagonist of the story, or republishing known facts by having them commented on by presumed experts capable of distorting completely the episode they are talking about. Finally, among the methods used to collect material is to publish hearsay, rumors and other unreliable sources as news. What makes it particularly difficult for readers to navigate the shūkanshi articles is that investigative articles of considerable quality are accompanied by articles that are at least questionable, with the consequence that the reader struggles to understand how much credit each article deserves.[8]

Shūkan Bunshun has been characterized as relying on posts from 2channel/5channel, an anonymous bulletin board, in their reporting.[9]

See also

Publications

Other

External links

Notes and References

  1. Book: Adam Gamble. Takesato Watanabe. A Public Betrayed: An Inside Look at Japanese Media Atrocities and Their Warnings to the West. 1 July 2004. Regnery Pub.. 978-0-89526-046-8.
  2. Book: Adam Gamble. Takesato Watanabe. A Public Betrayed: An Inside Look at Japanese Media Atrocities and Their Warnings to the West. 1 July 2004. Regnery Pub.. 978-0-89526-046-8.
  3. News: Editorial: Japanese weekly magazine's anti-S. Korea feature totally out of order . Mainichi Daily News . September 4, 2019.
  4. Web site: Court rules on Bubka appeal case. October 16, 2008. Tokyograph. 10 February 2010.
  5. Web site: Overview of Case. www.3justice.com . https://web.archive.org/web/20070805081322/http://www.3justice.com/shirayama/index.shtml . 2007-08-05.
  6. http://www.t-net.ne.jp/~keally/Hoax/shincho090300.html "Comments on: Shukan Shincho, March 9, 2000: Can the '500,000-Year-Old Site' Really Be Believed?"
  7. Web site: Magazine publishes name, photo of Kawasaki murder suspect. 6 March 2015 .
  8. Book: Adam Gamble. Takesato Watanabe. A Public Betrayed: An Inside Look at Japanese Media Atrocities and Their Warnings to the West. 1 July 2004. Regnery Pub.. 978-0-89526-046-8.
  9. Web site: 片山さつき氏、文春記者の刑事告訴も「ジャーナリズムではなく2ちゃんねる」. https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20211027/https://www.sankei.com/politics/news/190208/plt1902080013-n1.html. 2021-10-27. 2019-02-08. The Sankei News. ja. Satsuki Katayama lodges criminal complaint against Weekly Bunshun reporter, saying "Bunshun is more like 2channel than journalism". 2020-05-22.