Many journalism scholars have long viewed The Japan Times as a mouthpiece for the Imperial government's wartime propaganda.
But Tomoko Matsunaga, a Kyoto University graduate student, challenged the established view in an academic paper she presented June 12 to the Japan Society for Studies in Journalism and Mass Communication.
According to Matsunaga, 26, a media studies student, a detailed analysis of wartime articles showed that the country's oldest English-language daily didn't only publish Foreign Ministry propaganda — it also printed a range of viewpoints from articles in domestic periodicals and letters from the paper's readers.