Paper short abstract:

2013年冬、中国からの越境大気汚染が日本全国で大々的に報道されて以来、汚染大気中の有害物質がもたらす健康被害、労働力低下、経済的な悪影響が懸念されているが、東アジアの政治社会的緊張関係のもとで国家責任としての抜本的な解決策が打ち出せない中、メディアは越境大気汚染問題における世論を刺激し牽引してきた。立法行政のみならず、地方自治体、学際、経済産業界、さらには一般市民を巻き込んで、リスク・警戒・責任・エンパワメントの言説が展開され、五段階を経て「好ましい言説」が抽出・伝播され、利害関係者間で浸透しつつ「自己責任」による全国的な健康管理製品の普及へと国境を越えて発展していったプロセスを解明する。

Paper long abstract:

The news of unprecedented levels of atmospheric air pollution, allegedly crossing territorial boundaries from China, first hit Japan in December 2013. The potential health risks posed by harmful pollutants and consequential reduction of labour productivity with economic implications have caused Japan serious concerns ever since. The state's immediate action was called for. However, there was no immediate solution, given sensitive security and territorial issues in the region, scientific and technological limitations in determining the polluter, judicial and legal hurdles of prosecution, and considerations for economic advantage in maintaining a favourable international relation. How can the state fulfil its obligation and responsibility to address the domestic issues of protecting the citizens under the complex international circumstances? The state of Japan turned to the media, which became the catalyst of diversifying and reassigning the responsibility to protect the citizens through mobilising both public and private stakeholders, extending the impact beyond the national boundaries.

This paper illustrates how the media coverage of the cross-border air pollution in the recent years have contributed to mitigate the state-citizen conflict over the issue of public health risk via the process of policy communication, mediation and implementation, thereby triggering responses from the stakeholders, including industrial, societal and other actors. In the process, the locus of responsibility to tackle the pollution shifted among these actors in five phases: risk-awareness raising: constant air-quality observation and dissemination of information by local municipalities; legitimising the risk and building consensus on immediacy of taking measures against risk; manufacturing of protective and climate-adaptable products, and mobilising the citizens to take responsible actions against the risks.

Discourse of Risk, Vigilance, Responsibility, and Empowerment developed in the mediated exchange among the social partners in this process, meanwhile the hegemony of a 'preferred discourse' of risk and responsibility became embedded. Comprehensive interdisciplinary analyses of the policy documents and media texts reveal how, by assimilation and association, the onus of responsibility shifted among the actors, and how the media have played a powerful role in the mass mobilisation towards self-protection.