A human rights bill being prepared by the government aims to protect press freedom despite mounting public criticism about invasions of privacy and overzealous crime reporting by journalists, sources familiar with the bill have said.
The bill of 88 articles in seven chapters will stipulate the creation of a human rights panel under the Justice Ministry's jurisdiction. The panel must respect media organizations' efforts to deal with complaints about journalism-related human rights violations in cases such as reporters hounding crime victims to get interviews.
The government plans to adopt the bill during a Cabinet meeting March 8 and submit it to the Diet, according to the sources.
It states the roles and structure of the panel and procedures to stop human rights abuses such as issuing injunctions or making cases public. The panel will also deal with public complaints about problems such as abuse by police or discrimination.
But the panel should deal with media abuse cases cautiously in light of press freedom, according to the bill.
It says cases to be dealt with include excessive efforts by journalists to contact crime victims or their families despite their refusal.
Pursuing victims who wish to be left alone, waiting for them, watching them at their workplaces or repeatedly calling them disrupts their daily life significantly, it says.
To help ensure the entity's independence from the government, legal professionals should join the panel's secretariat, as well as task forces to be set up for each case, according to the bill.
At least two people on the five-person panel must be women, it says.