The Presence of Politics in Japanese Media: Political Interference and Media Strategies of Power in the face of Changing Media
Francis BALLE - Professor (université Paris 2 Panthéon-Assas)
Jean-Marie COTTERET - Professor (université Paris 1)
Bernard VALADE - Professor (université Paris 5)
Derek EL ZEIN - Associate Professor & Lawyer (université Paris 5)
Artan FUGA - Professor (université de Tirana)
Nowadays in the society, the media are essential and very important for the activities of people. The media have developed with the evolution of social and economic systems as well as technological advancements. The media were used by the authorities to control the society during the war, when the freedom of expression was severely limited. However, after the period of the occupation, Japan won the state of a democratic regime, where the media could enjoy freedom of expression.
The 1955 system, where domination by one party of Parliament ( the LDP ) continued without interruption for 38 years, was created by the unique conditions of politics in Japan. However, later, the media contributed greatly to the fall of this strong political system with long duration.
Now the media have a tendency to exert a great influence on politics. On the other hand, the authorities began to take measures to control the media in favor of their policy, which is interference in the media and made considerable pressure on their expression activities.
Under the situation where media freedom is limited, the people, however, reacted against the authorities with new means and the relationship between media and politics is becoming more serious for us today.