Kisha Clubs Need to Acknowledge New Realities in Media World

　
Tetsuo Jimbo and I have known each other for many years. We have both been involved – both officially and behind the scenes through our Nagatacho connections – in trying to get more access and break down the “press club wall,” as current FPIJ Chair David McNeill calls it. Jimbo, founder and CEO of Videonews.com, one of the first and most reliable Web-TV outlets in Japan, is a longime FCCJ member and one of the driving forces behind the Kisha Kaiken to Kaikenshitsu Kaihou wo Motomeru Kai (Committee to Open News Conferences and Conference Rooms), which represents and organizes many Japanese freelancers, weekly magazines, internet TV and all “new media” journalists who have been enduring even harsher and more arbitrary discriminations than the Foreign Press when it comes to covering “government” news. Few people know, for example, that while every Gaimusho card-holding foreign journalist is entitled to a Diet Press Pass (kokkai kisho), freelancers – no matter how well-established they are – and new media representatives are not. To illustrate the issues involved, we sat down and had a small chat, reproduced below.

d’Emilia: Jimbo, you not only attended, I believe for the first time, on March 26, the press conference of Prime Minister Hatoyama, you were even allowed a question. Is this a real historical landmark? Has Japan finally leapt forward, leaping away from the “closed shop” blacklist and emerging as one of the most open countries, as far as public press conferences access is concerned? In my country, Italy, a well-known journalist was physically removed from a prime minister’s press conference where he tried to ask a question…
Jimbo: Well, yes and no. Yes, because this was indeed the first time in Japanese history that a prime minister’s press conference at the Kantei was attended by journalists outside the kisha club. And not only foreign journalists, but all bona fide media representatives. No, because the real issue, the so called shusaiken (“hosting rights”) still lies in the hands of the kisha club and we are not taking part in the rule-making process of press conferences.

d’Emilia: What do you mean?
Jimbo: I mean that the odd and very peculiar system by which press conferences in Japan are, with very few exceptions, “hosted” by the kisha clubs is still there. We attended that presser because PM Hatoyama, through internal “political” pressure (nemawashi) was able to convince the Kantei kisha club to “open up.” But they still hold the rights for hosting and running the pressers – we are still their guests – and they decide who can and can’t attend, and who is permitted to ask questions!

d’Emilia: This might be difficult to understand for some, especially newcomers. Could you elaborate? Do you mean that we were not allowed in thanks to PM Hatoyama but out of a – possibly momentary – goodwill gesture by the Kantei kisha club? So this arrangement could, in theory, change again. I was under the impression that all this was gone.
Jimbo: Not too quick. With very few exceptions – MOFA and most recently the Public Prosecutor’s Office – press conferences are still organized and managed by the kisha clubs, private organizations with no legal status consisting of about a dozen major Japanese newspaper and television networks, although they use public facilities for pressers. Under the current arrangement, they are the ones who get to decide who can and who can’t attend press conferences, and set the “format,” such as who moderates the presser and who gets to ask questions. This is still the case in most government ministries, including the Kantei. It is a very old and common arrangement at most ministries and public institutions. Kisha clubs, which routinely discriminate against local freelancers, weekly magazines and “new media,” have different, often obscure and at times “flexible” rules concerning foreign media attendance. Some require – and may refuse – formal membership, some will give you “observer” status (which usually does not allow you to ask questions), some ask for pre-registration on a case-by-case basis, and others just don’t care – you can show up and they’ll let you in. After Minshuto (DPJ) took power and honestly tried to enforce their electoral pledge (already enforced at DPJ headquarters for quite some time) to “open up” media access, there have been various developments. Some ministries have completely opened up, some only partially, some have controversial and still nebulous arrangements, and some are still totally closed, such as the Kunaicho (Imperial Household) and the Keisatcho (Police Agency).

d’Emilia: I understand even strong and motivated personalities, like Financial Services Minister Shizuka Kamei, accepted the established tradition. And even Naoto Kan, the pioneer of political leadership over the bureaucracy, has not yet succeeded in opening up the Finance Ministry kisha club.
Jimbo: Right. Kamei was actually among the first to announce free and unrestricted access to all media. But he met with fierce opposition from the kisha club and gave up on opening up the regular press conferences. Instead, Mr. Kamei now holds a separate press conference for journalists outside the kisha club twice a week, on top of the regular presser for the kisha club. Mr. Edano tried to open his, but again, he was blocked when he tried to do so and he now does as Kamei.

d’Emilia: Which does not make any sense, to me. It’s wasted time for them, while deep discrimination between “Serie A” media and the rest is still there – not to mention the so-called kondankai, the “informal” gatherings where “news” is actually distributed. The whole situation is a mess. As foreign journalists, despite the official, repeatedly reiterated “opening up” policies of the current administration, of which we are of course all very happy and grateful, access rules are still confusing and at times mendokusai, cumbersome. Starting from the Kantei, with its official homepage requesting ALL media to refer to the hodoka (press department) for pre-registration at press events, while Mr. (Osamu) Sakashita, head of the kohoka (public relations department) still sends out “imperial rescripts,” according to which foreign journalists have to register – through the FPIJ – with his office. Which even sets up arbitrary and unwarranted allotments. As a result, at the prime minister’s March 26 presser, there were empty seats, while working foreign journalists were left out. What can we do about this? What about the role of the FPIJ? Keep the pressure? On whom? Should we join hands with your movement for global and totally free access? We are all aware this is not anymore, and probably never was, an issue limited to the foreign press….
Jimbo: The foreign journalists should join us in demanding both the government and the kisha clubs open up. Since kisha clubs have control over government pressers under the existing arrangement, they are primarily responsible for the closed nature of press conferences. But having said that, the kisha clubs were formed back in the 1890s when the government was not disclosing any information and media organizations joined forces and formed kisha clubs to demand the government disclose information. So, the nature of kisha clubs is not necessarily bad. It’s just that they are clinging on to their old habits and are not willing to change their old practices to meet the new and emerging media situation. My concern is that the government is taking advantage of the backward nature of kisha clubs and stepping into media affairs. The last thing we want is to allow the government to intervene in the media. The kisha clubs really need to understand this, and must do so quickly. They often occupy public spaces inside government facilities, with some of the costs footed by the state, so they should be open to all bona fide journalists. They should understand they no longer represent, exclusively, “public opinion.” The impact and overall influence of the so-called “mainstream” media has been dramatically decreasing. On the other hand, “new media” – especially Web media – have dramatically increased theirs. It’s time to join hands and avoid the dangerous risk of government – any government – managing public information.