Nuclear Fears: Tokyo music hall reported as nuke reactor, cuts in foreign bureaus = bad coverage

[Hannah Bell]

People make mistakes. It happens. Fox News, of course, is aware of the goof, and the network's Andy Levy conceded as much to Jake Adelstein at Japan Subculture. This mistake, however, is quickly becoming emblematic of just one of many mistakes being made in the recent Japan coverage, coverage that often overlooked and completely ignored the quake and tsunami victims...Japanese television, which so often runs the spectrum of stupid, generally showed the whole range of emotions and stories these events played out. Someone asked me what I thought of the Japanese television coverage. Considering how Japanese reporters can talk to victims and understand press conferences, I thought it was pretty good.

...That doesn't mean the entire foreign media got it wrong or only Japanese people can write about Japan. That doesn't mean that at all. "You could see the difference in reporting between outlets that had bureaus in Japan," says reporter Leo Lewis of The Times, "and those who decided to close their bureaus - that their readers or viewers didn't think Japan was that important." Over the past ten years, newspapers, magazines and TV news outlets have been either closing their Japan bureaus or reduced their size. Reporters were, in turn, shifted to China as China was the future. Japan is so 20th century.

Yet, when it really mattered, when reporters with the ability to speak the language and with experience living in Japan were really needed, much of the foreign press was caught flat-footed. "Reporters with experience living in Japan," adds Lewis, "would be able to judge foot traffic on Ginza on a weekday or know that the reason everyone was wearing face masks was because this is hay fever season." Instead, there was simply speculation.

Without feet on the ground in Japan, much of the Western press had to rely on wire reports or stringers - who might or might not have been incorrect. The language barrier was also hampering, meaning a delay between the most current info and what was be stated in the West. Then, as the Wall Street Journal points out, Japanese was even mistranslated, leading to incorrect reporting...

http://kotaku.com/#!5783880/japan-doesnt-have-an-eggman-nuclear-plant

[Hannah Bell]

1. k

[Hannah Bell]

2. k