(What Kind of Joke Is This?) Japanese Mainstream Media Report on June 16 Protest Against Ooi Restart, Pretend As If 11,000-Strong Protest on June 15 Never Happened

(UPDATED, with Asahi and New York Times join their colleagues.)

They must be feeling safe to report, because the scale of the protest was much smaller in the morning of June 16. 300 to 400 people showed up in the rain to protest the ministerial meeting that PM Noda was having at that time.

The Japanese mainstream media show no embarrassment for not having reported anything at all on the June 15 protest of 11,000 people. None of them even say there was a protest on June 15.

Who are they kidding? Majority of Japanese people whose sources of news are still traditional newspapers and TV, and/or who would rather not hear anything combative like a protest against a government policy.

TBS Television: http://news.tbs.co.jp/newseye/tbs_newseye5056988.html

Nikkei Shinbun: http://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXNASDG1600Q_W2A610C1CC0000/

Jiji Tsushin: http://jiji.com/jc/p?id=20120616122848-0012777847

NHK News: http://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20120616/k10015874021000.html

Mainichi Shinbun: http://mainichi.jp/select/news/20120616k0000e040159000c.html


(UPDATE) Asahi Shinbun just joined: http://www.asahi.com/national/update/0616/TKY201206160158.html?ref=reca

Reuters is one of the very few news outlets worldwide who reported on the June 15 protest that drew 11,000 people:

...But the decision risks a backlash from a public deeply concerned about nuclear safety. As many as 10,000 demonstrators gathered outside Noda's office on Friday night amid a heavy police presence to denounce the restarts, urging the premier to step down and shouting "Lives matter more than the economy."

I heard that BBC also reported in the news program, but I haven't found it myself.

(UPDATE) New York Times joins the Japanese colleagues by only mentioning June 16 protest. See my post.

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Photographs of 60,000-Strong Anti-Nuke Demonstration in Tokyo: Japanese MSMs Called It "A Parade"

Looking at this aerial photographs taken by Mainichi Shinbun (one of the better ones in terms of even coverage on nuke issues in Japan; another is Tokyo Shinbun), it sure looks more than 60,000 to me. People who actually participated in the event seemed to have the same impression as mine (on this blog comment sections, and on twitter), that it was far bigger than official number by the police (30,000).

Mainichi quotes the organizers' number of 60,000 people, and also quotes the number by the police (30,000):

Meanwhile, photos from Germany's Spiegel and France's Le Monde, who used the photos from AP and other agencies. Spiegel puts the number at 60,000:

and Yomiuri, who says "more than 30,000 people gathered" (exactly the police official estimate):

Asahi, slightly better perspective but not much, but the article does quite the organizers' number, 60,000 people:

and the US paper Forbes, without photo, says "tens of thousands of people marched", but the article title declares "Thousands march against nuclear power in Tokyo". Thousands??

Many participants in Japan are indignant that their demonstration was called a "parade", as if this was some festival attraction. Well, give the media time to learn. To me, it's amazing that the MSMs like Yomiuri and Asahi covered the event at all, and even had photographs. Asahi and Mainichi sent in their own photographers for the event. (Yomiuri's looks like Jiji Tsushin's photo.) I would take it as a sign that the anti-nuke movement may be crossing the threshold in Japan in terms of the number of people, and the MSMs cannot simply ignore anymore.

Calling it a "parade" and using the lowest official estimate by the police as the number of participants is a classic way to belittle a movement.

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#Fukushima I Nuke Plant: Japanese MSM's Own "Evacuation" Zone

I have no way of verifying this. From a tweet by @tosa_suigei:

Japanese news media outlets set their own "evacuation zone" [from Fukushima I Nuke Plant]: Asahi Shinbun 50-kilometer radius; Jiji Tsushin 60 kilometers, TV networks (other than NHK) 50 kilometers, NHK 40 kilometers. They have escaped to the safe distance, and have been criticizing freelance journalists and foreign media who have been reporting the danger within the 30-kilometer radius as "demagogues who exaggerate the danger". What horse s--t.

朝日新聞50キロ圏外、時事通信60キロ、民放各局50キロ、NHK40キロ。報道機関が設定した「自主避難区域」である。彼らは早々と安全地帯に逃亡し ておいて30キロ圏内の危険性を報道するフリー記者や外国の報道を危険を煽るデマだと批判してきたのだ。馬のケツの穴のような連中だこいつらは。

I have read that the Japanese media only conducts telephone interviews with people within the 30-kilometer radius while the foreign media (like AP and Reuters) and freelance, Internet-based journalists actually go there. Weekly magazines (more like tabloids in the UK and in the US) in Japan seem to have better and more truthful coverage than the daily newspapers and send reporters to the affected areas in Fukushima.

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Yomiuri: Foreign Tabloids Fanning the Fear of Fukushima Nuclear Accident

Here comes the Ministry of Truth. Or precursor of it. Because for now, it's the big media doing it under the guidance from the government.

Yomiuri Shinbun (in Japanese; 12:26PM JST 4/7/2011) is indignant that the foreign tabloid newspapers like UK's Sun, Daily Mail (which by the way has just spectacular photos of the earthquake/tsunami/nuke accident), and Germany's Bild are exaggerating the danger of radiation from Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant beyond the "reality", and fanning the fear among their readers.

Yomiuri didn't like The Sun's March 15 headline (March 15??) , "thousands escaping Tokyo for fear of radiation leak". It didn't like Daily Mail's March 16 headline either that said "Japan caught in a nuclear panic", "Japan's nuclear crisis uncontrollable". It didn't like Bild for asking "is Japan going to pollute the entire Pacific Ocean?" (Headlines are not what actually appeared in these papers; they are my translation from the Japanese.)

People did escape Tokyo in numbers, particularly foreign workers who live and work in Tokyo at that early stage in the crisis. Daily Mail's assessment that Japan's nuclear crisis is uncontrollable seems just about right. You can't blame Bild for asking whether Japan is going to pollute the entire Pacific Ocean when a private company was allowed to dump the contaminated water with only a nod from its regulatory agency, and the government really doesn't have a plan on what to do with the highly contaminated water, 60,000 tons and increasing daily.

Japanese people over 80 years old would know exactly what their government is doing. It is a déjà vu for them. It happened before and during the World War II, when losing was portrayed as winning.

Just like the US government has been doing, not just on its endless wars in Iraq and Afghanistan (Lybia, Ivory Coast joining, maybe). Oh look, economy is improving, because the stock market is rising! Don't worry we have GE's Immelt (who has exported so many jobs abroad) to run the commission for jobs and competitiveness! Everything will be alright as long as we save our Wall Street Banks so that they can continue to pick your pockets, or we have to declare a martial law!

Never waste a good crisis, and the Japanese government is simply doing just that. Too bad the crisis had to be this big.

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Ultimate Chutzpah: ABC Rejects Ad Ciritical of Obama Health Care "Reform" as "Partisan"

More on the mainstream media coverage on the administration's health care "reform" and on-going debate among citizenry.

ABC (who aired the special program on health care from within the White House) and NBC (the CEO of the parent company, GE, is an economic advisor to President Obama, who also happens to be a director at New York Federal Reserve Bank) refuse to air an ad critical of Obama Administration's health care "reform".

ABC, NBC Won't Air Ad Critical of Obama's Health Care Plan
(8/27/09 Fox News) [emphasis is mine]

"The refusal by ABC and NBC to run a national ad critical of President Obama's health care reform plan is raising questions from the group behind the spot -- particularly in light of ABC's health care special aired in prime time last June and hosted at the White House.
The 33-second ad by the League of American Voters, which features a neurosurgeon who warns that a government-run health care system will lead to the rationing of procedures and medicine, began airing two weeks ago on local affiliates of ABC, NBC, FOX and CBS. On a national level, however, ABC and NBC have refused to run the spot in its present form."

The ad was created by the League of American Voters (according to Fox article, a national nonprofit group with 15,000 members who advocate individual liberty and government accountability).

"[Bob] Adams [executive director of the League of American Voters] said the advertisement is running on local network affiliates in states like Louisiana, Arkansas, Maine and Pennsylvania. But although CBS has approved the ad for national distribution and talks are ongoing with FOX, NBC has questioned some of the ad's facts while ABC has labeled it "partisan.""

""The ABC Television Network has a long-standing policy that we do not sell time for advertising that presents a partisan position on a controversial public issue," spokeswoman Susan Sewell said in a written statement. "Just to be clear, this is a policy for the entire network, not just ABC News."

"NBC, meanwhile, said it has not turned down the ad and will reconsider it with some revisions."

No one, not even Obama, seems to know exactly what's in the House bill H.R. 3200, what's in the Senate version, what's in the versions that different committees in the House and the Senate have been discussing. However, NBC apparently knows all the "facts" to dispute the ad (I wonder it's a "fact sheet" provided by the White House/Democratic Party, instead of "facts"), and ABC labels it "partisan", totally oblivious to the fact that by rejecting the "partisan" ad the network itself is taking a "partisan" position.

As the article cites Dick Morris (a FOX News political analyst and the League of American Voters' chief strategist, who was a onetime advisor to former President Bill Clinton):

""It's the ultimate act of chutzpah because ABC is the network that turned itself over completely to Obama for a daylong propaganda fest about health care reform," he said. "For them to be pious and say they will not accept advertising on health care shuts their viewers out from any possible understanding of both sides of this issue.""

Speaking of being partisan, ABC is clearly excited about the return of "Harry and Louise" ad, this time promoting their dear leader's health care "reform". The ad, as I wrote in my posts, was created by a pharmaceutical industry lobby PhRMA who reportedly has had a secret deal on health care with the White House and whose slogan on their website says "Disease is our enemy. Working to save lives is our job."

And here I was, thinking the days of militarizing everything was over and done with, with the previous administration. By the way, as I mentioned in my post also, the health care bill H.R. 3200 is full of "corps" and "force" for the "positive" "change".

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Increasing Noise Against Bloggers And Alternative Media

from so-called mainstream media (MSM), in case you haven't noticed. Here are two latest "attacks" from the professional, high-caliber high-standard media personalities.

Dennis Lets Zero Hedge Have It (6/30/09 Zero Hedge)

CNBC host Dennis Kneale calling bloggers "digital dickweed, including Zero Hedge.

(Sorry but his whole rant does sound like a skit in Saturday Night Live rejected by the SNL producer.)

Murdoch CEO Labels Bloggers “Political Extremists" (7/1/09 Infowars.com)

John Hartigan, the CEO of Rupert Murdoch’s News Limited, labels bloggers and alternative media outlets as “political extremists”.

"... the blogosphere is all eyeballs and no insights..."

And let me remind you that the government wants to monitor the blogsphere:

Blog Czar Is Next? FTC plans to monitor blogs for claims, payments

And let me also remind you that Obama's Cyber Czar is yet to arrive, and the front runner is not very promising for cyberspace freedom or what's left of it:

Cyber Security Czar Front-Runner No Friend of Privacy (6/22/09 Wired)

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