Newspapers on Okinawa claim fair reporting

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Newspapers on Okinawa claim fair reporting
By David Allen and Chiyomi Sumida, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Sunday, May 11, 2008

NAHA, Okinawa — Of Okinawa’s two major newspapers, one — the Ryukyu Shimpo — admits it has an anti-military stance and the other — the Okinawa Times — claims it merely reflects the attitude of the island’s people.

They both say they fairly report the news. It’s not their fault a good deal of the news about the U.S. military presence is unfavorable, they say.

“In our 60-year history, we have never produced our paper under the banner of anti-American, or anti-military,” said Satoshi Yagi, assistant managing editor for the Okinawa Times. “What is wrong is wrong; this is what we focus and shed light on.”

The Okinawa Times, published since July 1, 1948, has a circulation of 200,000.

“It is hard for us to figure out why some people view our paper as biased,” Yagi said. “If people say our way of reporting is biased, I would like to see a concrete example.”


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=54692