Wai Wai whacked!

• 1

  What made it inappropriate was that a mainstream, reputable news site was offering unverifiable tabloid fare on a seemingly equal level. Sure, if you read the disclaimers (in small print) you’d understand what the WaiWai was all about. But far too often I’d see WaiWai items get circulated in forums or via e-mail as “real news” which it most certainly was not.

  If the WaiWai comes back, it should be under a completely separate domain name and clearly identified as the near-fiction it is…or was.

  feitclub on June 22nd, 2008
• 2

  Why oh why would they whack Wai Wai?

  I think it’s a real shame, and I’ll miss stories like this week’s “Disgraced corporate bigwig on drug charge after spat with sex worker during love hotel romp” and “Young worker busted for lacing colleague’s whisky with pipe cleaner”.

  Wai Wai’s been running for a long time, book versions of its columns haver been published, and there are obviously a lot of people who enjoy it. Maybe they’re all low lifes, like me, I don’t know. But I can’t see that it does any harm, other than to offend the sensibilities of people who are probably already taking life and themselves too seriously.

  jhlimey on June 23rd, 2008
• 3

  it’s pity because thinking up those headlines must be awfully difficult..writing the associated near-fiction as Dan describes it - (hey! it’s job)

  one of my all-time favourites is

  “Alien Bible Discovered!..They Worship Oprah!.”

  Now that is Pulitzer deserving stuff or whatever the Japanese equivalent is.

  also let me say that Japundit at times has some wonderfully elegant and clever Post Titles..I’ve long thought that a sub-editors job must be a nightmare - you have the article ready, now how do you get somebody to read it and its five minutes before the presses start rolling..

  remora

  remora on June 23rd, 2008
• 4

  I saw today that it was discontinued. A true shame, as while it was fully un-politically correct, it was always darn funny.

  chad on June 23rd, 2008
• 5

  I’m not arguing against the existence of WaiWai, because I know how funny it could be, but the position of goofy tabloid news alongside straight news was, in a word, “inappropriate.” For a country so easily misunderstood, WaiWai was a constant acknowledgment to the uninitiated that Japan really is some kind of perverted wacky-land.

  feitclub on June 23rd, 2008
• 6

  The thing that struck me about the announcement was the suggestion that the MDN did not realize that WaiWai content may not have been appropriate until it was pointed out by some of their readers. Makes you wonder what the editors over at the MDN are doing.

  Edward Chmura on June 23rd, 2008
• 7

  Its an interesting fact isnt it, that newspaper sales in Japan have actually dropped whilst East Asia and India account for 60% overall globally…of course this has nothing to do with Wai-Wai getting axed but I found it bit interesting thats all.

  “- In Japan, newspaper sales fell by -0.83 percent in 2006. Over five years,
  sales were down -2.42 percent.”

  *Maybe with a name like Ryan Connell MDN has finally seen the joke and worked out what Blarney means.*

  rem

  remora on June 23rd, 2008
• 8

  I for one am rather sad. For years now, Wai Wai has been part of my healthy breakfast. Now there’s no point in even visiting the Mainichi site, is there? I’m sure that more’s going on here than justa few readers complaining about the content. Actually, for a long time now Wai Wai has been pretty tame compared to some of its older stories about knidergarten hookers, elder deruharu, incest in Hokkaido and Chocko-Ball Mugabi. T’will be missed.

  bamboo on June 23rd, 2008
• 9

  I’ll miss it.

  Mr. T on June 23rd, 2008
• 10

  What a bunch of tossers. Lose the only thing that justified the existence of the Mainichi website in English because “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.”
  So how many is “some”? Little bit of detail too much to expect from a supposedly serious newspaper?
  As for the public promises 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”, well how about some hara-kiri for the editor-in-chief or whatever he’s called, for letting such filth leak out in his name for so many years.
  Can’t wait to see how much the hits for the MDN site go down now.
  Ryan & rest of the crew, sub-editors not least, please, please set up your own site and show those self-righteous w@nkers @ HQ what they’re missing.

  rabileeds on June 24th, 2008
• 11

  It’s a big loss, and will be missed. I don’t really agree that the WaiWai stuff was presented as equal to the headlines. If they had been lumped in with the basic headlines, sure, but they had their own section in the corner, with a more-than-adequate disclaimer. Anyone who encountered those stories elsewhere on the net and then made some kind of blanket assumption about the Japanese is a moron, anyway. Besides, on countless occasions you’d get something absurd such as “Footwear fetish thief used boot odor to fantasize about owners” in the national headlines first, only for it to appear a week later in the WaiWai with further details. When the real headlines are no longer more surreal and salacious than the tabloids’, then maybe the critics will have a leg to stand on. In the meantime, I’m sure the Mainichi will renew its commitment to real news by publishing tons of photos the next time an exciting new Triumph bra is released.

  tenguleavings on June 25th, 2008
• 12

  Here is a more detailed report about the Wai Wai closure.

  “We regret that our assessment procedure was not satisfactory and we apologize for it,” the Mainichi Shimbun said.

  The newspaper is planning to punish the head of the Digital Media Division, which is responsible for overseeing the site, and the manager responsible for the section, as well as the editor involved with the stories, according to its Web site.

  Criticism has been growing since late May and the paper closed WaiWai on Saturday, according to the Mainichi.

  About 300 complaints and opinions were received via e-mail or phone by the Mainichi Daily News editorial department as of Monday.

  One person asked, “Have you thought of any possible effects of your reporting these articles to the world in English?” while another complained, “You are disseminating content that would mislead readers about Japan.”

  Mistakes have been made. . . Others will be blamed.

  Edward Chmura on June 27th, 2008

You must be logged in to post a comment.