Japanese government cracking down on independent reporting and criticism of the government

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.truth-out.org/fukushima-residents-seek-answers-amid-mixed-signals-media-tepco-and-government/1303189200

Fukushima Residents Seek Answers Amid Mixed Signals From Media, TEPCO and Government

Thursday 21 April 2011

by: Makiko Segawa, The Asia-Pacific Journal

<snip>Uesugi also notes that at TEPCO press conferences, which are now being held at company headquarters, foreign correspondents and Japanese freelancers regularly ask probing questions while mainstream journalists simply record and report company statements reiterating that the situation is basically under control and there is nothing to worry about. One reason for this, Uesugi suggests, is that TEPCO, a giant media sponsor, has an annual 20 billion yen advertising budget. "The media keeps defending the information from TEPCO!" "The Japanese media today is no different from the wartime propaganda media that kept repeating to the very end that 'Japan is winning the war against America,'" Uesugi exclaimed.

There is one particularly telling example of the media shielding TEPCO by suppressing information. This concerns "plutonium". According to Uesugi, after the reactor blew up on March 14, there was concern about the leakage of plutonium. However, astonishingly, until two weeks later when Uesugi asked, not a single media representative had raised the question of plutonium at TEPCO's press conferences. snip

Now the Japanese government has moved to crack down on independent reportage and criticism of the government’s policies in the wake of the disaster by deciding what citizens may or may not talk about in public. A new project team has been created by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication, the National Police Agency, and METI to combat "rumors" deemed harmful to Japanese security in the wake of the Fukushima disaster.

[Wilms]

1. Reminds me of a DUer. n/t

[dixiegrrrrl]

2. Reminds me of how BP and our Coast Guard united to handle info. during Gulf spill.

[damntexdem]

3. How to respond to an unprecedented catastrophe? Kill the messenger.

How to protect an unsupportable industry? Stop the protester.

[mrJJ]

4. METI

snip
A new project team has been created by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication, the National Police Agency, and METI to combat “rumors” deemed harmful to Japanese security in the wake of the Fukushima disaster.

The government charges that the damage caused by earthquakes and by the nuclear accident are being magnified by irresponsible rumors, and the government must take action for the sake of the public good. The project team has begun to send “letters of request” to such organizations as telephone companies, internet providers, cable television stations, and others, demanding that they “take adequate measures based on the guidelines in response to illegal information. ”The measures include erasing any information from internet sites that the authorities deem harmful to public order and morality.
http://japanfocus.org/-Makiko-Segawa/3516

The Letter of Request... as posted below: http://translate.google.com/#
http://www.soumu.go.jp/menu_news/s-news/01kiban08_01000023.html

APRIL 22, 2011
Local Leader Protests Japan Plants.
TOKYO—The governor of Fukushima prefecture, the epicenter of Japan's unfolding nuclear crisis, said Friday that he will not allow the reopening of the prefecture's two nuclear plants unless he is assured of their absolute safety, ... snip
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703387904576278511723462094.html

Meet the Old Gov of Fukushima..

Former Gov of Fukishima.. (METI) basically destroyed the former Fukushima Governor.. Sato Eisaku who had opposed the loading up of MOX fuel in the Fukushima facility. His actions were about safety issues.. He was NOT AGAINST the nuclear power facility.
http://www.japanfocus.org/-Onuki-Satoko/3514

Eisaku Sato Fukushima
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8T--6faRzU

Thats what happened to Former Gov Eisaku Sato when he tangled with TEPCO... METI stepped in.. Same will happen to the present Gov of Fukushima.

[mrJJ]

5. UPDATE....METI Now Officially Takes Control of PR

Tokyo Takes Over PR From Plant Operator .
APRIL 23, 2011.
By MITSURU OBE and TOKO SEKIGUCHI
TOKYO—Japan's government said it will largely take over speaking for embattled Tokyo Electric Power Co., after six weeks of nuclear crisis at the company's Fukushima Daiichi power complex have often generated conflicting reports from the government and Tepco.

Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, which oversees the country's top nuclear regulator, said Friday said it will run Tepco's main daily plant-status briefing, held each evening, though the company will conduct some others on its own.

Tepco's briefings have at times turned confrontational. "You guys lack accountability," some reporters have shouted, eliciting apologies from Tepco spokesmen. "Who is the person overseeing this operation?" asked one reporter at a briefing earlier this month on Tepco's planned discharge of lightly radioactive water into the ocean. "Why can he not come here? Tell me his name. Who is it? Go up and find out right now. Go right now. Go right now."

Tepco came under another indirect attack Friday, as the governor of Fukushima prefecture, or state, vowed he would oppose any efforts to reopen parts of the Fukushima Daiichi plant, as well as a neighboring Tepco-run plant, until he was assured of their safety. While he has limited ability to block any reopening, his comments underscore the rising local opposition to nuclear power in Japan.

The utility has said it intends to permanently close reactors 1-4 but has not ruled out reopening the more-stable 5 and 6.

More: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703387904576278511723462094.html

[mrJJ]

6. TEPCO: Thirty Years of Accidents, and Lies

Flashback: Fukushima leaks.. thirty years of accidents, and lies

http://economicsnewspaper.com/economics/fukushima-leaks-thirty-years-of-accidents-and-lies-12638.html


In case you need it to read the docs: http://translate.google.com/#auto

excerpt:

March 20, 1990: the Sendai High Court rejects demand for stopping the central Fukushima

March 29, 1990: The Sendai High Court says that the plants are well designed and can not cause disasters

http://fukushimaleaks.wordpress.com/2011/03/18/fukushima-leaks-revue-de-presse/