| Abstrakt: |
Japan's war in China contributed to the growth of Japanese-produced newsreels, but shortages and rations caused by the war also lead to calls in the late 1930s to merge the newsreel operations of Japan's major metropolitan newspapers - the Asahi Shinbun, the Mainichi Shinbun and the Yomiuri Shinbun - and the Dōmei News Agency into a single company. Some of those calling for the merger were from the news industry, and the creation of the Nippon Newsreel Company [Nihon nyūsueiga-sha] in 1940 demonstrates that oversight of wartime media was not necessarily carried out through heavy-handed government mandates. Moreover, the merger was delayed for nearly two years due to disagreements within the news industry itself. Opposition to the merger was not in the name of 'freedom of the press'. Proponents of the merger felt that news should be used for the national good while the opponents saw the loss of newsreel operations in economic terms. This debate was the consequence of the rivalry between Furuno Inosuke, president of the Dōmei News Agency, and Shōriki Matsutarō, president of the Yomiuri Shinbun. These two men represented different views of the role of the Japanese news industry. Furuno was a long-time advocate of news for the good of the nation and pushed for the creation of Japan's first national news agency. Shōriki, on the other hand, also supported the national well-being, but seems to be more concern about the financial health of his newspaper. Their disagreement reveals that despite the war, the initiation and execution news media policies were subjected to personal and professional rivalries and ambitions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
