一部で報道されましたが、去る4月11日、私たち七つ森書館が読売新聞東京本社によって提訴されましたので、その経緯をご報告し、私たちの考えを、日本語と英語で述べさせていただきます。

小さなアリは巨象に挑む

　読売新聞社は発行部数1000万部を誇るメディア界の巨象です。巨象が、内部告発者とスタッフわずか5人の小出版社に襲いかかったのですが、アリのように小さな存在が巨象に挑んでいるのです。

　2011年11月11日、読売ジャイアンツの清武英利球団代表・GMが、球団会長で読売新聞社主筆の渡邉恒雄氏に重大なコンプライアンス違反があると告発する記者会見をおこないました。そのため、清武氏は解任されたばかりか、1億円の損害賠償訴訟をおこされたのですが、元気に闘っています。

　私たち七つ森書館はスタッフ5人の小出版社で、『高木仁三郎著作集』『原子力市民年鑑』『自然エネルギー白書』など脱原発系の本を中心に広く社会の問題を考える本を出版してきました。3.11後の時代にあって注目をあつめる出版社だと自負しています。昨年から「ノンフィクションシリーズ“人間”」の刊行を開始しました。ドキュメンタリーの良書を復刊し世に広める企画です。監修・解説は評論家の佐高信氏で、すでに6冊を発行しています。このシリーズに『会長はなぜ自殺したか──金融腐敗＝呪縛の検証』（読売新聞社会部。1998年新潮社刊、2000年新潮文庫）を入れようと企画し、2010年12月から読売新聞社と交渉を始めました。交渉は順調に進み、著者名を「読売社会部清武班」とすることも合意し、2011年5月9日に出版契約を結んだのです。本書の取材記者もつとめた読売新聞社会部次長（当時）が交渉の窓口となって読売新聞社の法務部門と協議した上で結ばれた出版契約です。

　その半年後に、清武氏の内部告発です。2011年12月1日、読売新聞社は七つ森書館に「出版契約を解除したい。補償はお金でする」と申し入れてきました。私たちは「良書を復刊するのが『ノンフィクションシリーズ“人間”』の目的です」と理解を求めました。読売新聞社は代理人同士の交渉もうまくいかないと見るや「出版契約無効確認請求事件」として東京地裁へ提訴しました。2012年4月11日のことです。

　読売新聞社の主張は「読売新聞社において、出版契約は局長が了解・決定するのが通例であるが、今回はそのような手続きが実行されていなかった。権限を有していない社会部次長が署名しているから無効である」というものです。出版契約にいたるプロセスをまったく無視しているばかりか、読売新聞社内の規則にすぎないものを社会一般の論理と見せかけて押し通すものにほかなりません。出版差し止め訴訟へ持ち込めなかったのです。

　巨大メディアである読売新聞社が、小出版社の七つ森書館を訴えることによって出版を妨害したのです。多大な時間と訴訟費用の浪費を迫り、自らの主張を押し通そうとするものです。われわれジャーナリストにとって社会的正義は何よりも重く、言論・表現の自由は社会的正義を守り抜くためにあることを忘れてはなりません。

　この数十年で、どれだけの巨大企業が膨大な利潤を奪っていったことでしょう。どれだけ多くの貧困層が生まれていったことでしょう。このような社会の矛盾を監視していくのがジャーナリストの眼なのです。清武氏は本書執筆中に、経営陣に対して「おかしいじゃないですか」と叫んだ社員の声が忘れられないといいます。私たちアリのように小さな存在が、巨象のように大きな読売新聞社に対して、おかしいことはおかしいと言って誤りを正していくことが重要だと思うのです。少年少女のような考え方かもしれませんが、私たちは少年少女時代の美しい心を忘れません。

　　　株式会社　七つ森書館　　代表取締役　中里英章

David Takes on Goliath in Japan

The Yomiuri Shimbun is a media giant boasting a circulation of ten million. This Goliath has launched an attack against a group of whistleblowers and a small publisher with a staff of only five people. But this handful of small Davids are standing their ground.

On November 11, 2011, former Yomiuri Giants representative director and general manager Hidetoshi Kiyotake held a press conference in which he accused Giants chairman Tsuneo Watanabe, who is also chairman and editor in chief of The Yomiuri Shimbun Holdings, of serious violations of his corporate compliance obligations. Not only was Kiyotake fired for his remarks, but he is also being sued for 100 million yen in damages. Kiyotake, however, is energetically fighting back.

Nanatsumori Shokan Inc. is a small company with a staff of five that publishes books advocating the abandonment of nuclear power such as Takagi Jinzaburo Chosaku-shu (The Jinzaburo Takagi Anthology) (Takagi was awarded the Right Livelihood Award in 1996), Genshiryoku Shimin Nenkan (Nuclear Power: Citizens Yearbook), and Shizen Enerugi Hakusho (Renewables Japan Status Report), and it has gained much attention in the period following the 3.11 disaster. Last year, we launched Non-Fiction Series: Ningen (Human Beings) in order to republish valuable works of non-fiction and bring attention to the issues that they address. Under the direction of editorial supervisor and commentator Makoto Sataka, we have already released six books in this series.

Nanatsumori Shokan Inc. had planned to add Kaicho Wa Naze Jisatsu Shitaka: Kinyu Fuhai Jubaku No Kensho (Why Did the CEO Kill Himself? The Spell of Financial Corruption), published by Shinchosha in 1998 and by Shincho Bunko in 2000, to the series and had begun negotiating with The Yomiuri Shimbun, the author of the book, in December 2010. This book, to which Kiyotake made a significant contribution as one of its leading reporters, is a powerful work of non-fiction that offers an exhaustive investigation into major financial scandals that rocked Japan in the late 1990s.

Negotiations with The Yomiuri Shimbun initially proceeded smoothly, and an agreement was reached to credit “The Yomiuri Shimbun City News Department Kiyotake Group” with authorship. The publishing contract was signed on May 9, 2011 based on the negotiations with the deputy director of The Yomiuri Shimbun City News Department (at the time), who had also contributed to this book as a reporter, and following discussions with The Yomiuri Shimbun Legal Department.

Half a year after the contract had been signed, and after Kiyotake had held the press conference mentioned above, The Yomiuri Shimbun informed Nanatsumori Shokan that it “wishe(d) to terminate the publishing contract and would provide financial compensation.” Nanatsumori Shokan responded to The Yomiuri Shimbun, asking the corporation to understand the larger “purpose of the Non-Fiction Series: Ningen (Human Beings) in republishing valuable works of scholarship.” Negotiations between our representatives failed to reach agreement, and The Yomiuri Shimbun filed a Petition to Render a Publishing Contract Null and Void with the Tokyo District Court. This took place on April 11, 2012.

The corporation claims that, “At The Yomiuri Shimbun, publishing contracts are customarily agreed to and approved by the bureau chief, and these procedures were not followed in this case. This contract was signed by the deputy director of The Yomiuri Shimbun City News Department, who did not have the authority to do so, and the contract is therefore null and void.” Not only does The Yomiuri Shimbun disregard the entire process that led to the contract being signed, but the corporation persists in misrepresenting what amounts to nothing more than in-house practices as generally accepted principles. We believe that the Yomiuri Shimbun was unable to file an injunction against the publication because the corporation knew that it did not have appropriate background to support the claim.

By taking a small publisher like Nanatsumori Shokan Inc. to court, The Yomiuri Shimbun has effectively obstructed the publication of this book. This Goliath in the media industry is insisting on wasting a great deal of time and money on litigation in a strong-arm tactic to force the outcome it desires. As reporters, we value social justice above all, and we must not forget that freedom of speech and expression exists precisely for the cause of social justice.

How vast are the profits that Goliath corporations have snatched up over the past several decades? How many people have fallen into poverty meanwhile? It is journalists who take on the role of investigating these injustices in our society. Kiyotake has said that he will never forget the voices of the employees at the companies he investigated for this book who stood up against the executives in charge, declaring, “What they’re doing is wrong!” We believe that it is important for a small David of a publisher to stand up against a Goliath like The Yomiuri Shimbun, and to declare openly and clearly that what’s wrong is wrong. We must stand up in order to right these wrongs. We may be accused of youthful naïveté, but we are proud to stand with the purity of these principles.

How are the Davids faring against the Goliaths in your country?