Responsible reporting supports disaster areas
Two months have passed since the Great East Japan Earthquake. The unprecedented combination of the gigantic earthquake, the subsequent tsunami and the ensuing nuclear crisis made us newspaper journalists once again painfully aware that news reporting is a grave mission bearing heavy responsibility.
The Yomiuri Shimbun dispatched many reporters to disaster-hit areas immediately after the March 11 earthquake. The reporters were shocked to witness the devastation firsthand, but they covered and reported on the damage, the stories of local residents, rescue and relief activities, and municipal governments' efforts to get their areas back on their feet.
As our reporters felt the significance of accurately telling what they saw and heard, our editors made and designed pages while thinking about the meaning of publishing these articles. It is a job that demands a strong sense of responsibility.
We believe that these articles aroused the sympathy of many readers and drew public attention to the disaster areas. The articles also might have prodded the central and local governments to take action and helped garner generous support from around Japan and overseas.
The Yomiuri Shimbun carries a daily "disaster bulletin board" page, which provides information useful for the daily lives of people affected by the earthquake and tsunami. This page includes updates on the restoration of vital infrastructure, examinations and treatment available at hospitals, available bathing facilities and information about the whereabouts of people in disaster zones.
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Media filled info void
Local governments would normally provide residents with this information, but the disaster wiped out the means of many municipalities to do this. Instead, newspapers and other mass media have stepped in to provide essential information that apparently has been of great use to many people.
TV, radio and the Internet have taken advantage of their respective characteristics in reporting news and delivering commentary on the disaster. We have frequently been staggered by powerful TV footage of the disaster and the Internet's ability to quickly transmit information.
The disaster affected, at least to some degree, many national, regional and community newspapers. The tsunami damaged many newspaper distributors and left them temporarily unable to make home deliveries. The situation was aggravated by the damage caused to some printing factories and shortages of newsprint and ink.
However, every person working for a newspaper probably shared the same strong desire to ensure their newspaper reached its readers, even under the most adverse circumstances.
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The role of newspapers
The Ishinomaki Hibi Shimbun, a community daily contracted to use articles from The Yomiuri Shimbun, became unable to use its rotary press due to flooding from the tsunami and the loss of electricity supply.
However, reporters of the newspaper collected information--even wading through chest-deep floodwaters at times--and for six days published handwritten newspapers that were pinned up on walls. These reporters exemplified the indomitable spirit all journalists should possess.
Some of the Ishinomaki Hibi Shimbun "wall newspapers" have crossed the Pacific Ocean and are displayed at a news museum in Washington that collects newspapers with historical value.
When newspapers were delivered to evacuation shelters, people quickly gathered round and took turns reading them. This was a common scene observed after the disaster. Many people were able to read necessary information over and over and share topics of conversation with others. We think this is the strength of print media.
The task now for newspapers is to support reconstruction of disaster-hit areas through accurate reporting and providing responsible opinions.
Recovery efforts stranded in swamp of politics
Special legislation to promote recovery from the March 11 disaster has made slow progress.
It is unacceptable for politics to drag down recovery efforts. Prime Minister Naoto Kan needs to come up with a system under which politicians and bureaucrats can close ranks to work together.
Ruling and opposition parties, for their part, are urged to find points of compromise in an effort to pass the special bills through the Diet as early as possible.
Special tax-related bills to support disaster victims were passed by the Diet late last month. But many of the bills on special measures for recovery of urban areas and dealing with land whose ownership has become unclear have yet to be approved by the Cabinet.
The Democratic Party of Japan established a working group to study the content of special legislation ahead of the government. But due to lack of cooperation with the government and because a proposed tax increase to secure fiscal resources faced fierce opposition from within the party, the entire process of preparing legislation was delayed.
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A fundamental DPJ defect
The DPJ-led government calls for candid and vigorous discussions, but it is unable to make quick decisions, thereby leaving issues unresolved for an extended period. This is a fundamental defect of the DPJ administration.
The basic bill on recovery has followed an especially sinuous course. Cabinet approval of the bill, which had been scheduled for Tuesday, was put off.
The government and the DPJ plan to establish a recovery headquarters that will involve the prime minister and all Cabinet ministers and will mobilize the relevant existing government offices. Secretariats to be newly established may be treated separately.
Out of consideration to the opposition Liberal Democratic Party, which insisted on establishment of a "recovery and rejuvenation agency" during interparty negotiations, the government plans to add a clause to the bill calling for study of a "recovery agency." But the government and the DPJ have yet to ascertain the prospects of gaining opposition approval for the bill.
The DPJ's coalition partner, the People's New Party, has not budged an inch from its call to establish an organization involving representatives of both ruling and opposition parties. This is another factor behind the significant delay in Cabinet approval of the bill.
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Kan's lack of leadership
Under a divided Diet, in which the House of Councillors is controlled by the opposition camp, it is understandable that the government and the DPJ must give extra consideration to opposition parties and the coalition's smaller partner. But given the situation, Kan's lack of leadership must be blamed for the delay in legislation.
There is good reason to fear the LDP's proposal for a "recovery and rejuvenation agency" will lead to dual administrative functions overlapping those of existing government offices. It is necessary to avoid futile conflicts between government offices over the personnel affairs and administrative powers of a new organization.
It is clear that a headquarters model would be efficient. So, early passage of the government's headquarters plan must be promoted.
The Reconstruction Design Council in response to the Great East Japan Earthquake was founded on the notion of "gathering the people's wisdom." But discussions among the various experts who comprise the council tend to become diffuse, raising concern over whether the panel will be able to synthesize various opinions by the end of June, the deadline for the compilation of its recommendations.
Discussions of a tax increase went ahead of everything else at the council because the agenda set in advance was ambiguous. The confusion was compounded by the ambiguity of the division of roles played by the council and its subordinate organizations.
Kan's political clout has further declined in the wake of his party's poor performance in unified local elections. But the prime minister is responsible for displaying leadership at each juncture rather than remaining uncommitted.
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