Last month, the United Nations Human Rights Council released a report critical of the Japanese government. The author, David Kaye, expressed concern over the way the media is pressured by the authorities to support their policies. The government objected to the report, saying it has never tried to sway the media.

Kaye was also critical of the media itself, focusing on the infamous press clubs that control access to government information and thus limit the kind of reporting that checks state overreach and malfeasance. The end game for many reporters is forming working relationships with individuals in power.

It's to the Asahi Shimbun's credit that the paper covered Kaye's views comprehensively, since the Asahi is, regardless of its left-leaning reputation, as complicit in the practice of "access journalism" as any of its conservative competitors. The impact of print reporting has been waning for the past 20 years. In 1989, the Asahi helped bring down the administration of Prime Minister Noboru Takeshita with its scoop about Recruit Corporation's donations to politicians. Though recent allegations that say Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has helped two education firms gain bureaucratic favors have caused a lot of fuss in the newspapers, it remains to be seen if they will hurt his administration in as meaningful a way. New opinion polls show the public is bothered by the allegations, and they're likely getting their information from TV, which is covering the scandal but not as intently.