A question of journalistic integrity

[Daistallia 2104]

Some of you may be familiar with this column from a Japanese newspaper, the Wai Wai from the MDN, and some of you may not.

The gist of the story is that for many years, the English edition of one of Japan's top newspapers carried a column whic featured transliterated stories from Japanese tabloids. The column has come under fire recently from 2Chan, Japan's biggest BBS community (and the inspiration for 4chan). This weekend they finally caved and discontinued it. To add insult to injury, they're threatening to punish the editor.

Notice and Apology

WaiWai Notice and Apology

Explanation and Apology Regarding Mainichi Daily News WaiWai

Mainichi Daily News, the Mainichi Newspapers' English language website, contained a corner called WaiWai that attracted criticism for such things as being too vulgar and debauching Japan by sending around the world information that could be misunderstood. In the wake of this criticism, we decided to end this corner. An online news site reported on these developments and inquired with the Mainichi Newspapers about them. The Digital Media Division which operates the information portal Mainichi.jp also includes the Mainichi Daily News and after receiving the criticism of the WaiWai corner, it was taken down from the Mainichi Daily News and a notice stuck in its place.

Mainichi Daily News is linked to Mainichi.jp. A detailed explanation of the developments in this case have also been provided in Japanese. The Mainichi Newspapers apologizes for the articles that attracted criticism.

Outline

For several years, WaiWai has taken parts of stories reported in mostly weekly magazines and used these to report on Japanese society and customs. In late May, the Mainichi Daily News editorial department began receiving complaints about the stories in WaiWai being too vulgar and an Internet bulletin board began criticizing the column. The online news site took up this issue and reported on it.

Many of the opinions about WaiWai asked the Mainichi about whether it had thought about what effect reporting to the world these stories in English would have, or that these articles would lead to a spread of misinformation about Japan.

Response

Following criticism of WaiWai in late May, we decided there was a problem with listing the stories on the Mainichi Daily News site, even though they were transcriptions of articles that had appeared in magazines published in Japan. Stories were withdrawn from the site and we halted access to problematic archived stories. We also asked search engines to prevent past WaiWai stories from being displayed.

We then changed WaiWai's editorial policy and drastically altered the standards used in story selection. However, there were problems with how past stories had been presented, so to avoid similar criticism from arising, we decided that we needed to come up with a sound editorial structure. This led to a fundamental re-think about WaiWai and on June 21, the decision was made to cease publishing the corner. On the Mainichi Daily News site, we listed the following notice: Some readers pointed out that various articles published in the WaiWai column were inappropriate content for the Mainichi Daily News. We respond to this criticism by halting publication of this column.

While explaining the process in both Japanese and English and apologizing, the Mainichi is poised to severely punish the head of the Digital Media Division, which is responsible for overseeing the site, the manager responsible for the corner and the editor involved with the stories.

Mainichi Daily News, and its publisher the Mainichi Newspapers Co., sincerely accepts readers criticism and will work to provide, edit and publish reliable information.

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/culture/waiwai/


Aside from this having been a favorite news site, I'm very upset by what I see as a lack of journalistic integrity.

Should newspapers discontinue reporting that may be offensive to a minority segment of their readers, or even to a segment of non-readers?

[Lunatic Goofballs]

Originally Posted by Daistallia 2104

Should newspapers discontinue reporting that may be offensive to a minority segment of their readers, or even to a segment of non-readers?

Only if it's profitable to do so.

[Lackadaisical2]

Originally Posted by Daistallia 2104

Some of you may be familiar with this column from a Japanese newspaper, the Wai Wai from the MDN, and some of you may not.

The gist of the story is that for many years, the English edition of one of Japan's top newspapers carried a column whic featured transliterated stories from Japanese tabloids. The column has come under fire recently from 2Chan, Japan's biggest BBS community (and the inspiration for 4chan). This weekend they finally caved and discontinued it. To add insult to injury, they're threatening to punish the editor.


http://mdn.mainichi.jp/culture/waiwai/


Aside from this having been a favorite news site, I'm very upset by what I see as a lack of journalistic integrity.

Should newspapers discontinue reporting that may be offensive to a minority segment of their readers, or even to a segment of non-readers?

Obviously, if a newspaper wants to be considered seriously then they should report the news regardless of who it upsets.

However, I'm not sure thats the issue here. I'm not sure if this Waiwai corner was taking articles from actual newsources or from tabloids and the like, which is what it sounds like. It seems to me that its not offense that is the issue but that international opinion will be changed if such articles, as appear in tabloids, are being spread and mocked as actual news abroad. In which case, pulling the section is within the realm of marketing/management mroe so than journalism and ethics.