The British journalist Claud Cockburn once wrote: “All stories are written backwards — they are supposed to begin with the facts and develop from there, but in reality, they begin with a journalist’s point of view, a conception, and it is the point of view from which the facts are subsequently organized...”
Good journalists strive to produce balanced and objective news, starting from an independent point of view — although perfection is never attainable. Sadly, Japan has too few good journalists because mainstream media reporters unconsciously begin their stories from the point of view of prized informants.
Consider the recent scandal involving Hiromu Kurokawa, a top prosecutor who gambled playing mahjong for money with his buddies from major newspapers. The group gambled together regularly for years. Instead of reporting the crime, the newspapermen — two reporters from the Sankei Shimbun and a former reporter from the Asahi Shimbun (then working for a different department) — were party to the act.