Ryan Ginstrom wrote:

> "Eric Takabayashi" <etakajp@yahoo.co.jp> wrote in message
> news:41EA3A8F.AC1DFBAC@yahoo.co.jp...
> > Ernest Schaal wrote:
> >
> > > Does anyone here believe NHK's professed claims that Asahi Shinbun
> libeled
> > > them by printing allegations that NHK bowed to political pressure in
> > > censoring a program on the Emperor's role in war crimes?
> > >
> > > Didn't they profess innocence in the embezzlement scandal too?
> >
> > NHK admitted they bowed to the pressure at their own press conference last
> > week, and some government official has made his own comments, so at least,
> > accounts of influence do not seem untrue.
>
> Maybe those in our midst with a knowledge of Japanese law can clear this up,
> but I believe that in Japan, damaging public statements are subject to
> defamation (名誉毀損) laws, even if they are true. What matters is if the
> "victim's" public standing was damaged, whether that standing was deserved
> or not.

You will recall it was Ernest the lawyer a while ago, claiming that x was not
libel or slander if it was true.

> I understand that the laws were set up this way to provide some sort of
> defense against the soukaiya's and whatnot, e.g. to prevent blackmail
> through the threatened divulgence of companies' misdeeds.

Yeah, and NHK had their own press conference about what they did, and said
official also admitted it, for his own BS reasons of "fairness". So what if the
Asahi (in addition to any other Japanese media who have already also done so)
tells us about it?

> > The real question is just how much influence do the government or
> publisher's
> > political agendas have on media, because media influence has a profound
> > influence on public perceptions, particularly here.
>
> How about influence of industry on the media while we are at it? So many of
> the "respected" news media/trade journals are little more than rags, where
> every feature "interview with the CEO" is actually a paid placement.

Fine. Because media and history are supposed to be the truth.