The Asahi Shimbun published a partially blacked-out advertisement Thursday that had been placed by the weekly magazine Shukan Bunshun to plug an article accusing the newspaper of engaging in "checkbook journalism."
The Shukan Bunshun's latest issue contains an article about the Asahi having received "backdoor" money from consumer loan firm Takefuji Corp. to run a series of articles. But the Asahi deleted reference to this in the Shukan Bunshun ad that it ran on its own pages. The magazine hit the stands Thursday.
The quarter-page ad promoting the new issue lists the headlines of its major articles. The headline of the top story reads, "People call it black journalism, 50 million yen that Asahi Shimbun received from Takefuji in 'backdoor ad fee.' "