The Wall Street Journal posted an interesting article on its Japan Real Time blog regarding the Liberal Democratic Party's (LDP's) beef with broadcaster TBS, whom it accused of bias against the ruling party on its "News 11" program.
Reporter Toko Sekiguchi didn't go into detail about the story at the heart of the LDP's complaint, which had to do with liberalizing the electricity market. Instead, she used it as a springboard for discussing the relationship between the government and the press, which is both contentious and chummy. The points she made have been aired before, but I came away from the article with a clearer understanding of the advantage that politicians now have over journalists.
Much has been made in the U.S. media about whether or not the Washington press corps challenges whatever administration is in power because they believe that without access they are nothing. Sekiguchi says similar things about Japan, and shows how campaigning for the upcoming Upper House election has been energized by the lifting of restrictions on Internet usage. In the quest to address voters, candidates no longer have to count on the mass media for cooperation and can basically tell them to get lost.