Media Transition and Review of Foreign Investment Regulations
Following Tohokushinsha, Fuji TV is making a fuss about the fact that it exceeded the 20% foreign investment limit, but such a limit is meaningless in the first place. The same is true of the other companies.
This has existed since the days of radio broadcasting only, when foreign capital was the mainstay media (TV and radio). The regulation was designed to prevent distortion of the unbiased nature of broadcast content by holding a large stake in ゙o. In the extreme, it was also to prevent foreign powers from using it for a coup d’état.
However, in the age of Netflix, YouTube, and other Internet distribution services, TV and radio have already become the core media. The number of people who have been affected by the disaster has been decreasing. Furthermore, it has been pointed out that the media has been privatized since the previous cabinet, and instead of the media being the fourth power (monitoring the outburst of political power), the top leaders frequently play golf with each other. The relationship has become one of familiarity. There are rumors of intervention in programs with inconvenient content.
News Corporation led by Rupard Murdoch and Softbank tried to buy TV Asahi The company also pulled out the family’s treasured sword when it tried to block a
Vested interests also took precedence when Livedoor and Rakuten tried to acquire TV stations at the dawn of the Internet era. The frequencies used by TV stations are the common property of the people. The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) is in charge of allocating them on behalf of the people, and should reflect the will of the people.
We should be discussing how licensing administration should be tailored to the era of diversity, and saying that it is inexcusable because the percentage exceeds 20% is a distraction from the essential discussion.
Viewers’ set-in-use (time spent in front of the TV) is expanding in terms of the share of free Internet TV.
Also, TV stations are publicly traded, and shareholders around the world have the right to buy them, and if they don’t, then TV stations are not listed. Let them abolish it. But if we did that, I’m afraid we’d see more and more biased reporting. ….
