With increasingly heightened public concern over nuclear power after the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant accident, a related scandal came to light over a possible attempt by a newspaper company to conceal anti-nuclear statements.
With increasingly heightened public concern over nuclear power after the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant accident, a related scandal came to light over a possible attempt by a newspaper company to conceal anti-nuclear statements.
The Nishinippon Shimbun, a Fukuoka-based regional newspaper publisher, canceled the publication of a book last December containing statements critical of pluthermal nuclear power generation at Kyushu Electric Power Co.’s Genkai nuclear power plant.
Before the decision was made, however, the author had accepted a request from the Nishinippon Shimbun to delete statements from the book on local community development.
As the reason for the cancellation, the editor in charge cited “a decision by the management.”
According to Yu Tanaka, the book’s author, the 54-year-old environmental activist was offered the job of writing the book by an editor of the publication division at the Nishinippon Shimbun. The book was scheduled to be published at the end of October 2010.
Shortly before the printing process, however, the Nishinippon Shimbun asked Tanaka to remove 12 pages, including the entire section titled “Is the reprocessing plant really needed?” which discussed the Genkai plant. Tanaka, convinced he would have another chance to write about the issue, agreed to delete the aforementioned passages.
Despite his compliance, the editor notified Tanaka on Dec. 16, 2010, via e-mail, of the cancellation, saying the company concluded that publishing the book was too challenging for a newspaper company, Tanaka said.
But behind the scenes lies a cozy relationship between the media firm and power company. Kyushu Electric Power is the second largest shareholder in the Nishinippon Shimbun with 222,000 shares, or a 3.08-percent stake. The newspaper firm also owned 3,800 shares in the power company as of the end of March. Moreover, Takao Kawasaki, Nishinippon Shimbun president, serves concurrently as a director of the utility’s subsidiary, Nishi Nippon Airlines Co.
In June, Tanaka's book, including the previously deleted passages, was published in its entirety by Tokyo's Kodomonomiraisha Publishing. In the postscript of the book, Tanaka described the whole story leading to the cancellation of the initial publication.
The Asahi Shimbun asked the Nishinippon Shimbun in writing and Kawasaki in person for interviews. Both requests were denied.
“Writers and editors are the ones who uphold freedoms in editing and publishing,” said Yasuhiko Tajima, a professor of media law at Sophia University. “It is greatly questionable and unreasonable that someone high up in the corporate hierarchy unilaterally made a decision on such a cancellation, irrespective of the intention of the writer and editor engaging in book-making work on a day-to-day basis.”