The Asahi Shimbun on Thursday censored advertisements for the weekly magazines Shukan Bunshun and Shukan Shincho that were critical of the major newspaper.
The altered ads were published after the Asahi rejected the previous week's ads for both magazines because they criticized the paper.
One word was blocked in each of the ads, which promote the Sept. 11 editions of Shukan Bunshun and Shukan Shincho.
In the Shukan Bunshun ad, the word "unjust" was blocked in a headline for an article titled, "The former chief of editorial, Yoshibumi Wakamiya, was making an unjust business trip to China with his beautiful secretary." And the word "fabrication" was blocked in the headline for the weekly's column "This week's fool" which previously read, "The fabrication that the Asahi made on 'pure-hearted high-school baseball players."
As for the Shukan Shincho ad, the Asahi made the decision to block the word "traitor" from one of the headlines, and "misreporting" from the headline for an article written by nonfiction writer Ryusho Kadota, which said "Asahi can no longer survive because of the 'misreporting' of the 'Yoshida Testimony."'
The testimony refers to a set of documents detailing the government's leaked interviews with Masao Yoshida, the late chief of the disaster-hit Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant.
The daily's public relations section declined to comment on the censored ads, saying they "don't disclose information on how each ad is being publicized," as it has to do with "the contract" with the two publishers of the magazines, Bungeishunju Ltd. and Shinchosa Co.