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- Convenors:
-
Yosuke Buchmeier
(Munich University (LMU))
Anna Wiemann (LMU Munich)
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- Discussant:
-
Fabian Schäfer
(FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg)
- Section:
- Media Studies
- Sessions:
- Wednesday 25 August, -
Time zone: Europe/Brussels
Short Abstract:
The Fukushima nuclear accident remains a highly controversial issue that has threatened to leave a deep divide in the Japanese public. This panel provides a kaleidoscopic range of perspectives on how mainstream media, political players and civil groups compete for interpretative hegemony.
Long Abstract:
The Fukushima nuclear accident in March 2011 did not only debunk the "safety myth" of nuclear power technology in Japan and around the world, but it also left a deep scar in the nation's self-esteem. In the aftermath, the questions about responsibility and the future shape of energy policy have threatened to divide the Japanese public. This panel provides multifaceted analytical perspectives on how mainstream media, political players and civil groups have competed for interpretative hegemony in a media environment which is said to have become increasingly hostile to free reporting and receptive to various forms of self-censorship. The first paper examines the polarization in the Japanese media seen in the different ways of how responsibility for the disaster was framed, and how these frames contended for interpretative dominance across both traditional and digital news media. The second paper sheds light on the communication strategies by players of civil society, i.e. the anti-nuclear movement, vying with the official narrative. Thereby it illustrates the chances of new media for social movement actors, but at the same time highlights the limitations of a pure online strategy as civil groups also rely on connections to mainstream media outlets. The third paper investigates how semi-independent public broadcaster NHK positions itself in the competition of frames. Although it does not give overt support to government policy, it rather eschews controversial issues that could question the official narrative, a media phenomenon known as "agenda-cutting". By integrating diverse methodical approaches and covering a wide range of perspectives on both established and new media, this panel aims to make sense of the media dynamics seen in the competition for interpretative hegemony. In doing so it reveals the chances and limitations of media democracy in Post-Fukushima Japan.
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Wednesday 25 August, 2021, -Tobias Weiss (Sophia University)
Paper short abstract:
I will trace the spread of different framings of responsibility for the 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident in different media. Using frame analysis, two major framings of responsibility will be sketched and their dominance in different media platforms and different time periods will be analysed.
Paper long abstract:
The Fukushima accident in 2011 brought to the fore existing fault lines in the Japanese media landscape. It is often argued that the split in editorial opinion on nuclear power policy led to polarization in the Japanese media world. In the paper I will scrutinize how this polarization can be observed in the different framing of the responsibility for the nuclear accident in different media. One framing underlines the responsibility of TEPCO and the nuclear industry, another framing underlines the failure of the Democratic Party (DPJ) and especially Prime Minister Kan Naoto in managing the accident. I will trace both frames from their formulation by political players (PM Kan on the one side and later PM Abe among others on the other side) and trace how both frames spread and acquired different degrees of dominance across different media including newspapers and online blogs and news outlets over time.
Anna Wiemann (LMU Munich)
Paper short abstract:
Against the background of growing media self-censorship in Japan, this presentation analyses online and offline media strategies of social movement actors in the aftermath of the Fukushima nuclear disaster.
Paper long abstract:
In the context of growing self-censorship in the Japanese mainstream media landscape, in particular since Prime Minister Abe took office in 2012, this presentation seeks to shed light on media strategies of actors of the anti-nuclear movement since the Fukushima accident in 2011. Media coverage plays an important role in movement mobilization; however, the power relationship between media and social movements leans clearly toward the media. On the other hand, the increase in internet-based media platforms and social media have significantly broadened social movements' possibilities to reach their audiences directly. In the aftermath of the nuclear disaster, many people missed critical reporting in the mainstream media, which led them turning toward the internet for alternative information provided by civil groups. Based on 24 semi-structured interviews with social movement actors in 2013 and 2014 in the Greater Tokyo Area, I ponder the question if, from the perspective of movement actors, internet-based media strategies are a viable alternative to mainstream media contacts. The results indicate that movement groups tend to integrate both media types into their strategies, navigating an expansion of their activities on the internet while at the same time cultivating good relations to movement-friendly journalists.
This presentation is based on my 2019 VSJF-prize winning article "Mit dem Smartphone gegen NHK? Mobilisierungsstrategien der japanischen Anti-Atomkraftbewegung unter Abes restriktiver Medienpolitik". In: Heinrich, Steffen and Vogt, Gabriele (2017) (Eds.): Japan in der Ära Abe. Eine politikwissenschaftliche Analyse. pp. 184-202. München: Iudicium.
Yosuke Buchmeier (Munich University (LMU))
Paper short abstract:
Given an increasingly oppressive media environment, this paper argues that public broadcaster NHK has positioned itself less by an overt plea for official policies but rather by a (relatively) subtle eschewal of controversial issues, known as "agenda-cutting" in communication studies.
Paper long abstract:
In the wake of the Fukushima nuclear accident, marking the symbolic failure of national policy (kokusaku), news coverage by semi-independent media behemoth NHK has frequently become the object of criticism. On the one hand, in its mission as public broadcaster NHK is supposed to serve the citizens' interests, on the other, the media organization has always maintained an ambivalent relationship to political power, which often turned the "watchdog" into a "watched dog" (Ellis Krauss). The news coverage on Fukushima and topics related to nuclear energy expresses this normative dilemma very vividly. This paper argues that while NHK does not blatantly promote government policy, it rather tends to avoid content which could question the official narrative. As the government has been trying to establish narratives of recovery and safety, particularly with the Olympics coming up, issues surrounding Fukushima such as the disposal of contaminated water or food safety have again become highly sensitive subjects. In this light, a news content analysis reveals how critical issues are marginalized or completely dropped from the program, a media phenomenon known as agenda-cutting in communication studies. It seems that, for the time being, NHK is going to remain the most authoritative media channel in communicating and framing "official reality", no matter if intended or not.