Sanae Takaichi gets 'the Abe treatment'

The first polls released after Sanae Takaichi's victory in the Liberal Democratic Party’s presidential election on Oct. 4 showed she had strong support. The poll by Kyodo showed over 68% of the respondents had "high hopes" for Takaichi. A Japan News Network poll returned similar results with 66% indicating "high hopes," and over 75% among those describing themselves as LDP supporters. Support for the LDP jumped 4.6 percentage points to about 28%.

In line with the other responses, 65% named Takaichi as the best candidate to be prime minister, with Yoshihiko Noda, the leader of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, at 11% and Yuichiro Tamaki of the Democratic Party for the People (DPP) at 7%.

Some in the media were not very happy to see those results. Last week, a photographer with the Jiji Press wire service was caught on a live mic at a Takaichi news conference boasting to his fellow media colleagues that he would "bring down public approval ratings" and only release photos that make approval ratings drop.

Jiji's director and managing editor, Kiyomitsu Fujino, immediately announced that the photographer had been harshly reprimanded, saying that "his remarks aroused doubts about the fairness and neutrality of news reporting."

It may be news to Jiji, but there have been serious doubts about the fairness and neutrality of Japan's mass media for a very long time. Some suspect that the photographer was not punished for what he said or that he might produce unflattering photos of Takaichi, but only because he got caught on a hot mic and it became news.

Since her election win this month, Takaichi has been the subject of dozens of articles. The tenor of those opinions published by much of the liberal mass media — Jiji, Kyodo, Asahi, Mainichi, the Chunichi Shimbun group and others — has been highly selective, presenting a consistently negative slant.

Given that she is frequently labeled a "Shinzo Abe protege," the media coverage of her so far reminds me of how they reported on Abe himself throughout his second term. I came to refer to the lack of objectivity or balance, with some media outlets never discovering a single positive thing to report, as "the Abe treatment." To no one's surprise, that is what Takaichi is now receiving.

Two examples of how breaking news last week has been presented to fit a pre-set narrative rather than the impartial neutrality they claim to aspire to.

On Oct. 6, the Tokyo Stock Exchange closed with record highs on the first day of trading on news of Takaichi's victory. Record stock market highs are typically seen as a vote of confidence in any new leadership.

Many of the above-noted media chose instead to highlight the weakening of the Japanese yen and the increase in the country's long bond yields, indicating that financial markets were "concerned" about her policies. The stock market record close was often buried, in some cases at the very end of the articles, while the headlines often highlighted governance concerns.

Much of the mass media have presented the coalition rupture between the LDP and Komeito as a result of Komeito leader Tetsuo Saito having grave concerns over Takaichi as the ruling party's new leader. The primary issue is the supposed inadequacy of the LDP's proposals to address, to Komeito’s satisfaction, the party funds reporting scandal, followed by her conservative policies and the inevitable mention of her possible visit to Yasukuni Shrine.

Komeito leadership has conveniently decided to shift all the blame to the LDP for their recent election defeats, and the mass media are simply repeating this storyline. Komeito, of course, had worked with former Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and current Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba for over two years to address the money-in-politics issue they cited as the reason for the sudden divorce while taking no accountability for their failure to address their rapidly aging supporter base.

Would this have been the case if Ishiba had not resigned, or if their apparent favorite, Shinjiro Koizumi, had instead won the LDP election — as many had expected? The timing and manner in which this has occurred feel contrived, but the mass media keep their fingers pointed at Takaichi.

The clearest example of liberal media bias is that only The Japan News, published by the Yomiuri Shimbun, disclosed that before the Takaichi meeting on Tuesday, Komeito's leader Saito met the day before with China's ambassador to Japan, Wu Jianghao, in the Diet building, and they discussed this topic.

That a member of the ruling coalition takes advice from a Chinese diplomat before his party decides whether to remain in the ruling coalition apparently isn't newsworthy for the liberal mass media. Is this not extraordinary?

The more relevant debate should be why the LDP would still want a partner that places such a high priority on meeting the wishes of China, Japan's most significant security threat. Nikkei Asia then takes the Komeito storyline another step by publishing a creative simulation based on Kyodo data that declares the LDP would "likely" lose as many as 20% of its current single-district seats in the Lower House if Komeito's local election turnout support were to disappear.

The appearance of "neutrality" is maintained by stating that Komeito's support is declining steadily, some would say rapidly, as its support base ages. In the July Upper House election, Komeito’s strongest age demographic was 70 years and older.

The very last sentence of the article, if you read that far, reveals that there was no assessment in the simulation of how new coalition partners or partners to replace Komeito would change the dire prediction.

The Asahi accused Takaichi of "hiding her true colors" on Yasukuni Shrine before the parliamentary vote for prime minister. Throughout the campaign period, the liberal mass media focused extensively on whether she would visit Yasukuni and, if she did, the expected negative impact that would have on Japan's relations with China and South Korea.

Many in the mass media invariably added a visit to Yasukuni Shrine to their list of her “sins” — being an Abe protege, ultraconservative and hawkish. In reading liberal media coverage, you might think Takaichi was the only LDP candidate to have visited Yasukuni. The bias arises because they very rarely, if ever, mentioned that Koizumi and Takayuki Kobayashi also annually visited the shrine on the war anniversary.

Well, it has been decided. After 26 years, Komeito is leaving the ruling coalition. To replace Komeito, which is in terminal decline, Takaichi now has an opportunity to create a new conservative bloc that includes both the DPP and Nippon Ishin no Kai. New blood. New ideas. New Cabinet members. A new conservative coalition that, from day one, would enjoy strong governing majorities in both the Lower and Upper Houses. There is a lot of work to do, but this is the type of LDP reform that many have been advocating.

Takaichi is receiving the full Abe treatment. Where is the neutrality and fairness there?