It's an open secret that TV news shows tend to go easy on big advertisers in their reporting. In the many tributes to journalist Tetsuya Chikushi, who died two weeks ago of lung cancer, no one mentioned that he was a heavy smoker. The dangers of cigarettes were never covered on his nightly TBS show, "News 23," and it seemed to be no coincidence that Japan Tobacco was one of the show's sponsors. JT was even a sponsor of TBS's memorial special for Chikushi.

With the economy in the state it's in, broadcasters will likely be even more skittish about saying anything that might be taken negatively about companies who advertise on their airwaves. Hiroshi Okuda, former chairman of Toyota and currently a senior adviser to the nation's No. 1 automaker, tapped into this fear with comments he made on Nov. 12 as a member of a panel looking into the current national pension mess.

"The media's bashing of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare has been too much," he said. "And I feel like retaliating." The media outlets that reported this remark have taken the word "retaliation" (hofuku) to mean that Toyota will pull advertising from TV stations and publications that supposedly partake of this bashing.