As president of Jiji Press America, the U.S. arm of one of Japan's two main wire services, Yoshikatsu Suzuki oversees the company's operations in the United States, for decades the most important foreign outpost for Japan's government and media. In addition, as New York bureau chief, he directly supervises a staff of 15. Suzuki, 51, is an award-winning journalist who has spent 27 years reporting on politics in Japan and the United States. In the United States, he covered the final two years of the first Bush presidency as well as Bill Clinton's presidential campaign and victory. His well-received book "Ozawa Ichiro wa Naze TV de Naguraretaka" ("Why Was Ichiro Ozawa Punched on TV?") also showed him to be a keen observer of the media's effects on the political process on both sides of the Pacific. In it, he noted that what the Japanese call "tele-politics" (TV politics) has come to dominate their country's political process as television dominates political campaigns in America.
 |
"Recent emerging technologies have made the world of news media dramatically change." |
|
Suzuki constantly looks at major American news Web sites and has strong opinions about the Web's influence in Japan and on the news business.The Q&A below is compiled from two e-mails and a 90-minute discussion in his midtown Manhattan office, conducted in English and Japanese. Q: How would you say emerging technologies are changing the way news is produced, distributed, consumed and shared in Japan? A: Recent emerging technologies have made the world of news media dramatically change. As a symbolic instance, let me give one example: One day at the end of June this year, NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation) carried the news of a serious traffic accident, which happened on the Tomei Expressway as top news. The scene was carried live via video from an ordinary person near the scene of the accident who was using his small combined camera and cellular phone. Even though he was not a cameraman, he was just a "normal" person, he was able to do the work of a journalist by virtue of just being on the scene. Q: You're known as an analyst of coverage of Japanese politics. Has the Internet as a news medium changed the political process in Japan? A: Let me cite a second instance of dramatic change through emerging technology. It was called "Kato Koichi no Ran" (The Rebellion of Politician Koichi Kato), in 2000. It was a period of political turmoil. Kato aimed to capture power by bringing down unpopular Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori. Kato's popularity went up through his use of the Internet and television at that time. Kato's was the first case when he made use of the Internet and TV to change the political situation by himself, although he did not succeed in becoming prime minister. Q: How did the Internet help? Would his popularity have been the same if he hadn't used it? A: He sent messages to the Japanese people on his home page and he appeared on broadcast television almost every day. He would speak to reporters who were with him about his message every day. Japanese people became aware of him and his policy plans through TV. The Internet was able to affirm for them, give them more in detail, things they wanted to know, and he was able to get more messages out to them. Q: Is the Internet as prevalent in Japan as in the United States? In this country, the Internet is starting to have a strong influence in politics. A: In the case of politics, not yet. All Japanese can watch television, but in the case of the Internet, they are more limited. I think Japan is lagging behind the United States and that it will be three to four years before it really takes hold. Q: How do younger Japanese consume news, using new technology? A: These days, if you get on a train in Japan you see everyone doing this (mimics punching a cell phone keyboard), looking at the news, doing e-mail. It used to be that people were reading newspapers and magazines, but now, I think, there are more people with cellular phones. It's information, not just news. Many younger politicians are learning this and reaching out to younger people. Kato has learned to use the Internet. (Former Prime Minister Ryutaro) Hashimoto learned how to use the Internet in his era as head of MITI (the Ministry of International Trade and Industry) and is earnestly using it to get a lot of information now.
|
"What the Japanese call "tele-politics" (TV politics) have come to dominate their country's political process." |
|
Young people, in their 20s and 30s, use the Internet. But a lot of young people take political news as if it were entertainment news. For a lot of people, I think they use the Internet simply because it's interesting. The young are using it as if it were a game. I think it does have influence in letting people send off their thoughts, and so the prime minister's office started to make full-scale use of it in the era of the Obuchi administration. The prime minister's office has further enriched the home page for Prime Minister Koizumi by editing "Koizumi Meru-maga" ("The weekly mail-magazine from Koizumi cabinet," which is e-mailed to people who register).Q: Has the Internet changed coverage from the journalists' side? A: My younger correspondents, six senior from Tokyo and five other staff covering daily news in New York, spend more time to get information on the Internet, compared with face-to-face interviews. It takes more time to use the Internet in order to get information. I think younger reporters tend to depend more easily on information from a Web site, and they spend more time, too much. Q: How so? How does it take more time? A: One day is 24 hours. So, ultimately they spend more time using the Internet, which is always available, to get information than if they were to go for face-to-face interviews. I always see younger reporters sitting at their desks, spending less time going out. That's a bad thing. Internet information is all almost the same. For example, breaking news is of course news, but other news and information -- in Japan too -- is superficial on the Internet. Q: Do you check Japanese or American alternative sources, like, say Drudge, that aren't mainstream media? A: No. Q: You've mentioned interactivity, and the effect the Internet can have. A: There's probably an influence on journalists, because, as in the United States, they can get e-mail from users easily, more easily than by normal post. Let me give another example of interactivity, and how the Internet played a distorting role. In Japan, as here, fans are allowed to vote for their favorite baseball players to appear in the All-Star game. This Internet voting has been permitted since 1996. This year, a big problem unexpectedly happened for the first time. Some players, who hadn't been active at all or even had never played a major-league game this year, were placed in the higher rank by voters. Particularly, one pitcher who hadn't been active at all -- an ace, he had been traded two or three years ago but had failed to perform since -- got the top ranking in the starter section, which should be the most honored area for a pitcher. However, he refused to accept it. I think people lightheartedly voted the pitcher in to psychologically harass him, like criminals who take delight in seeing other people's reactions to their crimes. Because it's so easy for people to lightheartedly vote on the Internet, it had a bad influence.
|
"A lot of young people take political news as if it were entertainment news. For a lot of people, I think they use the Internet simply because it's interesting." |
|
In the case of Koichi Kato, too, people saw it as if it were interesting, like a TV drama, which helped garner him support, and I think the Internet was an important part of that. He also tried to solicit contributions using the Internet, like Sen. McCain, but he didn't get it. Many politicians in Japan are trying to imitate the United States.Q: How will the news scene in Japan change over the next 10 years? A: Because of emerging technology, I think that news sources are getting to be unified more as the technology advances. Nowadays, when countless amounts of news are produced, distributed and consumed using emerging technology, I think excellent editors and mature journalists who have insight are needed in order to analyze the meaning of news in depth, to judge news value, choose valuable information, etc. Particularly, the role of print media should be to focus on describing more precisely, deeply and analyze the meaning of articles about what is going on. The role of print media should also be to explore, investigate and report from diverse news sources through face-to-face interviews. That is getting to be more important.
|
