Anonymity of Victims - Japan
By Leah McBride Mensching, Monday 1 January 2007 at 01:40 :: Editorial Content :: #178 :: rss
by Tatiana Repkova
Alarmed by a growing trend among police and administrative organizations to withhold the names of crime and accident victims, the Editorial Affairs Committee of the Nihon Shimbun Kyokai (NSK) on Dec. 7 issued a booklet titled “Real Names and News Reporting.”
Behind the issue is the government's approach in enforcing the Personal Information Protection Law and its basic plan for assisting crime victims. The NSK booklet aims to explain the need for real-name news reporting and provide guidelines for reporters to press authorities into releasing the real names of people involved in criminal cases and accidents. NSK has distributed the booklet to officials, crime victims' groups, attorneys’ organizations and other people in an effort to build public support for full news reporting.
The booklet has five chapters: (1) the mission of the media in real-name news reporting, (2) the growing trend of withholding real names and its negative effects, (3) using real names and real-name reporting, (4) due consideration by the media, and (5) media obligations. The booklet is downloadable from the NSK Web site at no charge from late January: www.pressnet.or.jp/ NSK News Bulletin Online, http://www.pressnet.or.jp/newsb/; January 2007
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1. Friday 13 July 2007 at 01:41, by Leah McBride Mensching
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