Thursday 21 June – Wednesday 20 April 2011
Government-Media Relations in the UK and Japan
Daiwa Foundation Japan House
Organised by the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation
The role of the media in influencing public opinion can make or break a Government. Different approaches to briefing the press may be employed in the UK and Japan but, in both countries, the power of the media is an acknowledged force within political life. Cultural context may determine the boundaries and reporting codes; spin doctors and kisha clubs may exert their influence accordingly; but the role of the media as a prime mover of events continues to grow. This seminar will address the relationship between Government and the media in the UK and Japan, drawing upon the direct experiences of leading journalists and writers on politics and foreign affairs.
About the contributors
Tadakazu Kimura
Tadakazu Kimura is Bureau Chief of the European General Bureau of the Asahi Shimbun. He joined the newspaper in 1976 and since then he has served as Editorial Writer, Editor of the Political News Department and Managing Editor. In 1988, Mr Kimura was sent to West Germany to interview political and social leaders. In 1993, he was Visiting Fellow of the East Asian Institute at Columbia University, New York and from 1994-97 he was Washington correspondent covering the White House and Presidential campaign in 1996. His publications include ‘Dominant Rule by the Takeshita Faction’ and ‘The Gulf War and Japan’.
Nicholas Jones
Nicholas Jones was a BBC industrial and political correspondent for thirty years until 2002. He is now a freelance political commentator, author and lecturer. His first book ‘Strikes and the Media’ (1986) examined the way the media was used during the 1980s and as a political correspondent he developed a close interest in political manipulation of the media. His books include ‘Soundbites and Spin Doctors’, ‘The Sultans of Spin’, ‘The Control Freaks and Trading Information: Leaks, Lies and Tip-offs’. He has also published a diary on the British general elections of 1992, 1997 and 2001.
William Horsley
William Horsley (chair) is Chairman of the Association of European Journalists in the UK. He took a degree in Japanese Studies at Oxford University in 1971 and was BBC Bureau Chief in Tokyo from 1983 to 1990. Mr Horsley was a senior BBC foreign correspondent who had spent over 10 years as a TV and Radio reporter covering Japan, China and other parts of Asia and then BBC World Affairs Correspondent based in London. He left BBC News in February 2007. He was also Chairman of the Foreign Press in Japan, 1986-90 – the organisation which represents the foreign press corps in Japan. He is the co-author with Roger Buckley of ‘Nippon: New Superpower’ (BBC Books, 1990).