Customer Reviews

A Public Betrayed: An Inside Look at Japanese Media Atrocities and Their Warnings to the West

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This is a book all American citizens-indeed, all Westerners-should read. Although it is "about" Japan, the lessons for democratic nations are immediately relevant. The authors offer an excellent analysis of the structural factors that facilitate the worst excesses of the Japanese media, and many of those factors are present in America today: media consolidation and the corresponding focus on profits over media ethics; the rise of sensationalistic reporting, "newstainment," and "politainment"; the one-sided reporting of the war in Iraq, the military involvement in Afghanistan, and the war on terrorism, with its embedded reporters, overreliance on governmental sources, and growing nationalism. Our nation was founded on the belief that the press was the watchdog of government, but this book reveals that we ought to start watching the watchdog more vigilantly. Readers will be impressed by the solid research, and they will be shocked at what they learn in this book, but the engaging voice and eloquence of the book's prose will make the lessons a pleasure-it really is an engrossing read.

Coauthored by an American journalist, A Public Betrayed is clearly written for a Western audience who may or may not be familiar with Japan. The first chapter is a wonderfully succinct primer on the Japanese system of governance and the "myths" that form the core of Japanese culture and thinking. Readers unfamiliar with Japan will appreciate the plethora of information presented in an easy-to-read manner; experts will appreciate the author's skillful boiling-down of myriads of information into a condensed kernel. Chapter 2 is an analysis of the mainstream Japanese media, known for its staid, boring presentation of the news it receives through various "kisha" or press clubs-strange public-relations-type outlets that are in some ways reminiscent of presidential or other official news conferences in America, but which effectively restrict the news to what government officials or company executives wish for the public to hear.

The initial chapters are background to chapter 3, which introduces the Japanese newsweekly or "shukanshi"-a strange mix of the New Yorker, Time, the Globe, and Playboy all rolled into one magazine. Sold primarily to commuters on Japan's ubiquitous train system, shukanshi claim to have the "real scoops." And sometimes they do; some of the best investigative journalism in Japan appears in the shukanshi. Unfortunately, as the authors point out, it appears right alongside misrepresentations, character assassinations, and outright lies. And therein lies the problem: who can tell what is legitimate news and what is simply made up to increase sales? The myriad interviews with executives, editors, and reporters from both the shukanshi and the mainstream press bring this chapter to life. You will be shocked to hear their testimony.

The next five chapters are given over to an examination of five case studies, examining instances of the worst abuses by the shukanshi, including: (1) falsely accusing an innocent man of a sarin-gas poisoning, slandering both him and his extended family, and deflecting attention from the terrorist group truly responsible; (2) denying, on the fiftieth anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, that the Holocaust ever occurred-indeed, denying that such a mass gassing of people was even scientifically possible; (3) falsely accusing a Buddhist leader of rape and helping to facilitate a trumped-up court case against him; (4) whitewashing the country's WWII legacy by denying or discounting the Nanjing Massacre, in which approximately 200,000 Chinese were killed by advancing Japanese troops during the Second World War; (5) and denying the existence of at least 80,000 "comfort women"-young girls from invaded countries who were rounded up and forced to act as sex slaves for the Japanese military. And, while extreme, the authors show that these "case studies" are by no means unusual. The shukanshi routinely run stories that are anti-Semitic, that glorify the country's past militaristic leaders and state shinto legacy, and that are hostile to religious groups, foreigners, or anyone who appears to be "different." Indeed, the chapter on Yoshiyuki Kono (the man falsely accused of producing sarin gas) includes an analysis of the plight of Richard Jewell (the man falsely accused of the bombing at the Atlanta Olympics) in America-a plight revealed to be eerily similar to that of Kono in Japan. I will never regard "the news" with the same nonchalance after reading this book.

For those interested in media studies, this is an informative and enlightening treatise on how the media works, or doesn't work, in Japan. The authors provide a reasonably compelling argument that if current trends in the American media continue, ours could become more and more like the highly dysfunctional and ineffective media of Japan, which has been guilty of many infractions on the Japanese people's rights to information and privacy. Here we find that the Japanese media is built around an unusual system of press clubs, which foment severe collusion between government sources and unquestioning reporters, and huge-selling weekly newsmagazines that offer a bizarre mix of investigative reporting, sensationalism, and titillation. The unique structural aspects of this industry have resulted in systematic xenophobia, sexism, neonationalism, and character assassinations in the Japanese media that have real effects on the rights of the people.

Through case studies examined in this book, we also find that the Japanese media have a structural tendency to revise and cover up shameful episodes in the country's history (especially WWII atrocities), relentlessly smear nonconformists and reform advocates, and perpetuate the near-total social power of Japan's political and economic elites. Unfortunately, Adam Gamble (according to the acknowledgements, co-author Takesato Watanabe mostly played the role of mentor) shows signs of contempt for fundamental aspects of Japanese culture, while the basic points being made in the book become tiresome and repetitive when applied to multiple case studies. The histories of the events behind the case studies also leave something to be desired, in terms of clarity and robustness. But the moral of the story is that the main reasons for these failures in Japanese journalism are corporate owners' push for profits rather than accuracy or objectivity, and ideological collusion between media and government elites. Anyone familiar with media studies in the U.S. will know that we're not too far away from just that kind of structure here, and this adds a worrisome atmosphere to this book. [~doomsdayer520~]

The criminal justice system in Japan is badly flawed in many ways, and the media/justice system relationship is just one aspect of this. Most visitors notice trial by daytime tabloid television is widespread and pernicious in the sub judicial stage of a crime, and at the time of writing this review a xenophobic campaign highlighting 'crime by foreigners' (statistically negligible) is being carried out by the national media. Where Gamble and Watanabe succeed is in highlighting the underlying relationships that allow the media to continue to fail the Japanese citizenry. Politicians control access and journalists/ editors fail to take a stand against the press clubs that reduce them to instruments of hegemonic control. Academics are weak and apathetic in their condemnation of this system, the police are complicit and the judiciary are co-opted. Having said that, ulitimately, as many commentators have pointed out, the Japanese publc themselves are to blame - no one takes a stand, ignorance and fear are everywhere. One serious flaw in Gamble and Watanabe's methodology is in assessing the impact the weekly magazines have. They give readership figures, and guesstimate how many people see the lurid ads on the trains. But their only survey seems to consist of Gamble taking to the streets one afternoon to ask a few dozen people if they believe what they read in the magazine headlines. Something a little bit more scientific and statistically rigorous would have added weight to their claims for the extent of influence the weeklies have on the populace. Personally, I find most Japanese people to be as disgusted by and untrusting of their media establishments as Gamble and Watanabe. If this one slack area could be taken care of in future editions, this is a book I would recommend unreservedly to those interested in Japan and/or media studies.

This book is full of information that American readers will not have heard before, but which are disturbingly relevant to US media culture. It argues the Japanese media is characterized by lax training, almost non-existent journalistic standards, clubby media elites "On Bended Knee" before the Japanese government reporting the government line uncritically, balanced by a battalion of odd weekly magazines that mix pornography and sensationalism with outsider investigative reporting, which would just as soon deny and even commit wrongs as uncover them. For the first time in English, A Public Betrayed goes into details of what these outlets do, from slandering individuals to overt anti-Semitism to denials of the holocaust and other atrocities. Japan is half a world away and its culture, media and otherwise is about as foreign from ours as one can get. So as an American it is hard to judge how this sort of journalism reflects on Japan's democracy, though it hardly sounds healthy. But then consider the parallels with US media trends: Massive media mergers have left US outlets concentrated in a few corporate titans' hands who feel justified in pursuing their own for-profit interests in their media outlets. The trend towards infotainment, tabloidization, sensationalism threatens to overtake the media's function to report facts and inform citizens. Right-leaning think tanks have largely succeeded in replacing the journalistic standard of accuracy with "objectivity" or "balance" which is code for the permissibility of ideological spin on coverage, regardless of the facts. Embedded reporting from war zones, the demise of White House press conferences and the rise of the Orwellian technique of "communications management" which doles out piecemeal access only to outlets with a history of favorable coverage tend to leave the mainstream media eager to please and prostate before the government line. Journalistic standards are eroding as one journalism scandal after another unfolds in the headlines, striking even the elite papers of record. US media culture is still a long way from Japan's, but the parallels are ominous, and the implications for our democracy are perilous. Whether you're interested in Japan in its own right or not, A Public Betrayed is an important work of media criticism that sheds a disturbing light on where our own media culture may be headed. Something important to think about in an election year.

This is a "first" thorough investigation on Japanfs weekly magazine; and for sure, one of the "best" on Japanese media criticisms; sharp and informative study, a collaboration of American and Japanese authors: Adam Gamble, a sharp investigative reporter from New England, and Professor Takesato Watanabe, a Japan's foremost media critic. As Japanese, I even learn so much from this book. Authorsf non-biased approach reflected well in its full spectrum of the rich interviews: Noam Chomsky, Katsuichi Honda, editorials of weekly magazines, etc. For Western readers, this book will not only enrich your knowledge of Japan, but also sharpen your view on media in your own country. Very impressive work! Highly recommended!!

I was interested in the subject and am ignorant of things Japanese. I give 5 stars in deference to the other reviewers. I quickly searched the book, including table of contents and index to determine what influence, if any, the authors attributed to the internet and could find no references. Maybe they are there, but I gave up, simply don't have time. If they are not, why not? Otherwise, the subject might be moot as we are quickly learning here in the U.S. How can you treat the subject without dealing with impact of the web and blogs?