Scrutinizing government is the media's job

2008/11/15

Freedom of speech was not an alien concept to Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States and principal author of the Declaration of Independence. Members of the Fourth Estate today are often happy to bring up this famous Jefferson quote: "Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter."

But Jefferson apparently became resentful of the press in later years, as this less-known but mordant observation suggests: "The man who reads nothing at all is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers." Perhaps he was royally ticked off by some of the things the papers said of his presidency.

Hiroshi Okuda, a senior adviser to Toyota Motor Corp., is reportedly just as irked with the press. In his case, however, his displeasure is not over the way he has been treated by the media.

Okuda was quoted as saying during a panel meeting to discuss the nation's health, labor and welfare administration, "The media's bashing of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare has crossed the line ... I feel like retaliating (against the media)." By retaliation, he apparently meant pulling advertisements and TV commercials.

The nation is in good health if the government is subjected to critical scrutiny for how it exercises its popularly vested power. This is the job of the media, and surely Okuda must know that. What got into him?

The former chairman of Nippon Keidanren (Japan Business Federation) was particularly displeased with television. It is not his style to mince words, but I think he did go a bit over the top for remarking, "Two or three miserable individuals appear on television every day to rant and rave."

Okuda chairs the panel in question, which was created in response to the pension mess. It is not appropriate for someone like Okuda, who has tremendous influence on Japanese business and political circles, to suggest muzzling free criticism.

Perhaps Jefferson's animosity toward the press was proof that the latter was doing its job. But I must hasten to add that the media must always report only the truth. Criticism and responsibility must go together.

The press is sometimes wrong, and this should be humbly acknowledged. Still, free speech is indispensable to any healthy society.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Nov. 14(IHT/Asahi: November 15,2008)