Media Coverage in Crisis?
The East Asia Program at the Swedish Institute of International Affairs, the European Institute of Japanese Studies at Stockholm School of Economics and the Department of Asian, Middle Eastern and Turkish Studies at Stockholm University arranged a seminar on the Japanese media coverage in crisis.
Compared to news organizations in other liberal democracies, major Japanese news media seem remarkably content to disseminate government-sanctioned information on national policies and developments without notable critical angles or investigative approaches. Why is that? What about the role of the press as the fourth estate or a watchdog of democracy? The media coverage of the Fukushima disaster exposed large credibility deficits in the Japanese system. Was Fukushima a breakthrough for digital and social media as alternatives to the established press in Japan?
Speaker:
Jens Sejrup is a postdoctoral research fellow in modern Japanese studies at the Centre for East and South-East Asian Studies. He has a Ph.D. in East Asian Studies and an M.A. in Japanese Studies, both from University of Copenhagen, and he joined the Centre in January 2014.
Commentator:
Linus Hagström, Head of the East Asia Program at UI
Moderator:
Marie Söderberg, Director of The European Institute of Japanese Studie
Welcome!