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[http://mdn.mainichi.jp/20080720/0720_06.html "Two more punished following in-house investigation"], ''Mainichi Daily News'', 2008-07-20.</ref>.
[http://mdn.mainichi.jp/20080720/0720_06.html "Two more punished following in-house investigation"], ''Mainichi Daily News'', 2008-07-20.</ref>.


Mainichi stated, "We continued to post articles that contained incorrect information about Japan and indecent sexual content. These articles, many of which were not checked, should not have been dispatched to Japan or the world. We apologize deeply for causing many people trouble and for betraying the public's trust in the Mainichi Shimbun."<ref name="MDN_start-over" /> Mainichi declined to explain the incorrect articles in detail, stating that "the facts are uncertain, and carrying them here again may only bring discomfort to readers." It also stated that describing the articles in detail could "inconvenience the publishers of magazines quoted in the column, as well as those concerned who appear in the articles."<ref name="WaiWai_chronology" /> A member of the Open Newspaper Committee claimed in the apologetic report that "An incident that occurs in a marginal region" and "That online attacks over this WaiWai problem have developed into a type of riot on the Internet shows problems involving the dark side of the Internet society"<ref>[http://mdn.mainichi.jp/20080720/0720_08.html Comments from Members of the Open Newspaper Committee(2)], ''Mainichi Daily News'', 2008-07-20.</ref>.
Mainichi stated, "We continued to post articles that contained incorrect information about Japan and indecent sexual content. These articles, many of which were not checked, should not have been dispatched to Japan or the world. We apologize deeply for causing many people trouble and for betraying the public's trust in the Mainichi Shimbun."<ref name="MDN_start-over" /> Mainichi declined to explain the incorrect articles in detail, stating that "the facts are uncertain, and carrying them here again may only bring discomfort to readers." It also stated that describing the articles in detail could "inconvenience the publishers of magazines quoted in the column, as well as those concerned who appear in the articles."<ref name="WaiWai_chronology" />


==Offices==
==Offices==

Revision as of 22:59, 12 August 2008

The Mainichi Shimbun
TypeDaily newspaper
FormatBroadsheet (54.6 cm x 40.65 cm)
Owner(s)The Mainichi Newspapers Co., Ltd.
PublisherMasato Kitamura
FoundedFebruary 21, 1872
LanguageJapanese
HeadquartersTokyo
CirculationMorning edition: 3,945,646
Evening edition: 1,610,293 (ABC Japan, average for July-December 2005)
Websitewww.mainichi.co.jp (Corporative)
File:A Japanese newspaper on the plane.jpg
The front-page of Mainichi Shimbun.
Newsroom at Mainichi Shimbun.

The Mainichi Shimbun (毎日新聞, Mainichi Shimbun, lit. "Daily News") is one of the major newspapers in Japan, published by The Mainichi Newspapers Co., Ltd (株式会社毎日新聞社, Kabushiki-gaisha Mainichi Shinbunsha).

History

The history of the Mainichi Shimbun begins with founding of two papers during the Meiji period. The Tokyo Nichi Nichi Shimbun was founded first, in 1872. The Mainichi claims that it is the oldest existing Japanese daily newspaper with its 136-year-long history. The Osaka Mainichi Shimbun was founded four years later, in 1876. The two papers merged in 1911, but the two companies continued to print their newspapers independently until 1943, when both editions were placed under a Mainichi Shimbun masthead. In 1966 the Tokyo office was moved from Yurakucho to Takebashi, and in 1992 the Osaka office was moved from Dojima to Nishi-Umeda.

The Mainichi has 3,200 employees working in 364 offices in Japan and 26 bureaus overseas. The Mainichi is one of Japan’s big three newspapers in terms of circulation and employee numbers, and has 79 associated companies, including Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS), Mainichi Broadcasting System (MBS) and the Sports Nippon Newspaper.

Two former Mainichi Newspapers Chief Executive Officers have gone on to become prime ministers of Japan. The Mainichi is the only Japanese newspaper company to have won a Pulitzer Prize. The Japan Newspapers Association, made up of 180 news organizations, has granted the Mainichi its Grand Prix award on 21 occasions, making the Mainichi the most frequent winner of the distinguished prize since its inception in 1957.

In addition to the Mainichi Shimbun, which is printed twice a day in several local editions, Mainichi also operates an English language Web version of the defunct Mainichi Daily News, and publishes a bilingual news magazine, Mainichi Weekly. It also publishes paperbacks, books and other magazines, including a weekly news magazine, Sunday Mainichi.

Like other Japanese newspaper companies, Mainichi hosts many cultural events such as art exhibitions and sporting events. Among them, the most famous are the Sembatsu high school baseball tournament held every spring at Koshien Stadium, and the non-professional baseball tournament held every summer in the Tokyo Dome (formerly held in Korakuen Stadium).

Partnership with MSN

On 15 January 2004, Mainichi Shimbun and MSN Japan announced they were to merge their websites. The partnership has been known as MSN-Mainichi Interactive, effective since 1 April 2004[1]. On 18 September 2007, Mainichi announced the launch of their new website, mainichi.jp, which would include "heavy use of social bookmarking, RSS and blog parts" and would "pay attention to bloggers". The new website began operations on 1 October 2007, marking the end of MSN-Mainichi Interactive, and was replaced by mainichi.jp. The English-language Mainichi Daily News also moved to the new website[2]. MSN-Japan switched to Sankei Shimbun[3].

WaiWai controversy and cancellation

In the spring of 2001, Mainichi discontinued publishing the newspaper Mainichi Daily News (MDN), which soon switched to a Web-only publication; and a MDN's column named WaiWai was left up to fewer limited staff members[4].

The column WaiWai was intended to show aspects of Japanese society and social behavior, with "softer" articles translated from sources of Japanese publications[4], which included tabloid magazines and evening papers. However, a chief writer, who was a foreign bilingual, glossed over the sources in multiple cases; the writer added a description in the lead paragraph, citied figures without explanation, portrayed comments of several women as indicating a general trend[5]. The writer also embroidered stories on sex, including that of the underage[5].

WaiWai articles on the Web site had a disclaimer: "WaiWai stories are transcriptions of articles that originally appeared in Japanese language publications. The Mainichi Daily News cannot be held responsible for the content of the original articles, nor does it guarantee their accuracy. Views expressed in the WaiWai column are not necessarily those held by the Mainichi Daily News or the Mainichi Newspapers Co."[6][7] The writer continued to make inappropriate articles with frequency, hiding behind this disclaimer[6].

Around April and May of 2008, voices of criticism on WaiWai were raised on the Web among Internet communities including 2channel, which was believed to be one that boosted the movement[8]. Mainichi faced criticism on WaiWai such as "contents are too vulgar" and "the stories could cause Japanese people to be misunderstood abroad."[9] And, on May 30, a monthly magazine whose story was used as the source protested against Mainichi[5].

The editorial board for Mainichi in English deleted criticized articles and blocked access to archived ones, but at that time couldn't immediately decide to shut down WaiWai; the column remained, though the source of articles was limited to Sunday Mainichi[5]. While being irresolute, Mainichi faced further criticism also by e-mails and phone calls[10][11]. On June 20, a news site J-CAST reported on this issue[12]. Finally on June 21, the Mainichi's Digital Media Division shut down WaiWai[5]. Mainichi announced it was ready "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."[13][14] On June 25, Mainichi apologized to MDN readers[15].

On June 28, 2008, Mainichi announced punitive measures[9][10].

  • The writer in charge of the column, who remained anonymous in the announcement, was suspended for 3 months ("issuing three months' disciplinary leave")[16];
  • Hiroshi Takahashi, Managing Editor for Mainichi in English, was "stripped of his title" for 2 months;
  • Akihiko Isono, General Manager of the Digital Media Division, was "stripped of his title" for 1 month;
  • Atsushi Hasegawa, Director and Digital Media Division Executive Supervisor, was "ordered to return 20 percent of his directors compensation" for 1 month;
  • Yutaka Asahina, Digital Media Division President, was "ordered to return 10 percent of his directors compensation" for 1 month.

Mainichi also stated that it would take legal action because "a flood of messages and images have appeared online" defaming and slandering female staff writers and other employees of the newspaper company[9].

According to a 2002 judicial judgment[17], a newspaper company must take responsibility for its own articles even if they are citations from a credible news agency, much more from an incredible news source.

Many advertisers responded to consumers' complaints by pulling their ads from Mainichi's site in Japanese[18].

On July 20, 2008, Mainichi publicized the results of in-house investigation on three media: MDN site, Mainichi's site in Japanese, and the morning edition of Mainichi Shimbun. Mainichi announced that it would re-organize the MDN Editorial Department on August 1 with a new female chief editor ,and on September 1 it would re-launch the MDN as a more news-oriented site editor[19].

The investigative team pointed to five factors: defects in the checking system, absence of an editorial quality control system, deficiency in journalistic morals, insufficient understanding of the English Web site, slow response to criticism[6]. Further punitive measures against two former Managing Editors were also announced[20].

Mainichi stated, "We continued to post articles that contained incorrect information about Japan and indecent sexual content. These articles, many of which were not checked, should not have been dispatched to Japan or the world. We apologize deeply for causing many people trouble and for betraying the public's trust in the Mainichi Shimbun."[19] Mainichi declined to explain the incorrect articles in detail, stating that "the facts are uncertain, and carrying them here again may only bring discomfort to readers." It also stated that describing the articles in detail could "inconvenience the publishers of magazines quoted in the column, as well as those concerned who appear in the articles."[5]

Offices

Palaceside Building, the headquarters of Mainichi Shimbun in Tokyo.
Osaka Office
  • Tokyo Head Office (東京本社, Tōkyo Honsha), corporate headquarters
1-1-1, Hitotsubashi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo
  • Osaka Office (大阪本社, Ōsaka Honsha)
3-4-5, Umeda, Kita-ku, Osaka
  • Seibu Office (西部本社, Seibu Honsha)
13-1, Konya-machi, Kokura Kita-ku, Kitakyushu
  • Chubu Office (中部本社, Chūbu Honsha)
Midland Square, 4-7-1, Meieki, Nakamura-ku, Nagoya

See also

References

  1. ^ Nihon Shimbun Kyokai, Mainichi announces its online news site merger with MSN, News Bulletin No. 28, April, 2004.
  2. ^ Reliability and openness key features of new Mainichi site, Mainichi Daily News, 2007-09-18.
  3. ^ Template:Ja icon 産経Webは「MSN産経ニュース」に変わります, Sankei Shimbun, 2007-09-18.
  4. ^ a b "Investigation of problems with English site (1) Results of in-house investigation into WaiWai column", Mainichi Newspapers, 2008-07-20.
  5. ^ a b c d e f "Chronology of problems with English-language site", Mainichi Newspapers, 2008-07-20.
  6. ^ a b c "Analysis of the investigative team", Mainichi Newspapers, 2008-07-20.
  7. ^ "Waiwai - an insight into subculture or just for fun?", Japan Inc, 2008-06-18.
  8. ^ "英語版サイトに「低俗」な日本紹介記事を掲載 毎日新聞がおわび", SANSPO.COM, The Sankei Shimbun, 2008-06-24. Template:Ja
  9. ^ a b c "Punitive measures over Mainichi Daily News WaiWai column announced", Mainichi Newspapers, 2008-06-28.
  10. ^ a b "Mainichi suspends reporter over 'vulgar' English column", BREITBART.COM, Associated Press - Kyodo News, 2008-06-27.
  11. ^ "毎日が英文サイト一部閉鎖 「低俗」と抗議3百件", 47NEWS, Kyodo News, 2008-06-24. Template:Ja
  12. ^ "毎日新聞英語版サイト 「変態ニュース」を世界発信", J-CAST, 2008-06-20. Template:Ja
  13. ^ "Mainichi will ’severely punish’ employees who contributed to WaiWai column", Japan Probe, 2008-06-24.
  14. ^ "「低俗過ぎる」毎日新聞英語版のゴシップサイトが批判受け閉鎖", INTERNET Watch, Impress Watch, 2008-06-24. Template:Ja
  15. ^ "Apology to readers for WaiWai column", Mainichi Newspapers, 2008-06-25.
  16. ^ The writer was Ryann Connell. Justin Norrie, "Japanese set the blogs on 'sleazy Australian' writer", The Age, 2008-07-05.
  17. ^ Claim for Compensation, Case number:1995(O) No.1421, SUPREME COURT OF JAPAN, 2002-01-29.
  18. ^ "「毎日jp」が自社広告だらけに、ネット上に深いつめ跡残る", Nikkei BP, 2008-07-08. Template:Ja
  19. ^ a b "Mainichi Daily News to start over again", Mainichi Daily News, 2008-07-20.
  20. ^ "Two more punished following in-house investigation", Mainichi Daily News, 2008-07-20.

External links