The government is pushing a plan to establish an independent body to handle administrative matters related to broadcasting and communications. This idea was explained in the Democratic Party of Japan's 57-page policy booklet during the Lower House election campaign. Titled "Index 2009," it was much thicker and more detailed than the party's election manifesto.
The party says in the booklet that a broadcasting and communications commission, or what it calls a Japanese version of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, should be created to resolve the current contradiction in which state authorities supervise the very broadcast stations whose role is to keep watch on state power. It also says the new body would dispel the state's arbitrary intervention in broadcasting.
At present, the Communications and Internal Affairs Ministry has the power to issue, renew or revoke licenses of broadcasting companies. And there have been cases in which the government, using thinly veiled threats of revoking broadcast licenses, applied pressure behind the scenes on broadcasting firms.