It has been one year and two months since former Kyodo News reporter Yoichi Ishikawa sued the company. The 7th oral argument was held on September 13, 2024.

Tansa has reported on this case as a “freedom of the press trial.” Kyodo News used its position as the employer to try to take away the freedom of the press for Ishikawa’s book “The Sanctuary of Bullying” published by Bungeishunju, which he wrote as a journalist. Ishikawa himself sees the significance of the trial in protecting the freedom of the press.

However, what became clear through the seven oral arguments was Kyodo News’s stance of avoiding the subject of “freedom of the press.”

During the oral argument that day, the plaintiff’s attorney Yoichi Kitamura expressed surprise that “Kyodo News has not said anything in this trial” and highlighted four topics on which Kyodo News remained silent.

Kyodo News’ silence: 1. Pre-trial claim that “The Sanctuary of Bullying” defamed the Nagasaki Shimbun

In the plaintiff’s preliminary documents, lawyer Kitamura listed four points that Kyodo News has not asserted or proven.

The first is the claim that the book “The Sanctuary of Bullying” defamed the Nagasaki Shimbun.

Kyodo News summoned Ishikawa to the company on November 14, 2022, five days after the book’s release, and questioned him for about two hours. Shuhei Masunaga, head of the legal department, pointed to a passage criticizing the Nagasaki Shimbun’s reporting stance and questioned Ishikawa, saying, “What you wrote here defamed the reputation of Nagasaki Shimbun.”

Kyodo News hasn’t, nonetheless, clarified how it has defamed the Nagasaki Shimbun in previous arguments. When Kitamura asked about this again in the 6th oral argument, Kyodo News’ lawyer, Katsunori Fujita, responded, “It’s not about whether there was defamation or not.” He also retracted his allegation that Ishikawa had defamed the Nagasaki Shimbun, stating, “We have no intention of alleging any new facts regarding defamation.”

First, the defendant has not asserted that the book “The Sanctuary of Bullying” constitutes defamation, which is a civil tort, against the defendant, the Nagasaki Shimbun Company, or any other person. Additionally, their response to the lawsuit suggests they will not claim this in the future.

Kyodo News’ Silence:  2. Where are the factual errors and logical leaps in “The Sanctuary of Bullying”?

The second is that they have not specifically pointed out the “factual errors” or “logical leaps” that it claims exist in “The Sanctuary of Bullying.”

Secondly, although the defendant claims that the book in question “contains factual errors and logical leaps,” it makes no particular claims about which of the book’s statements are “factual errors and logical leaps.” As the plaintiff addressed in its preliminary documents dated June 7, 2024, page 1, the defendant has not since made any specific claims regarding which statements in the book are “factual errors and logical leaps.”

 

Therefore, it should be assumed in this lawsuit that “the book in question contains no factual errors or logical leaps” if the defendant makes no more claims or evidence on this point.

Kyodo News’ Silence: 3. Evidence that “The Sanctuary of Bullying” damaged the trust between the Nagasaki Shimbun and Kyodo News

The third point is that there is no evidence to support the claim that “The Sanctuary of Bullying” has “damaged the relationship of trust between Kyodo News and the Nagasaki Shimbun.”

Thirdly, the defendant in this case claims that the book in question “damaged the relationship of trust between Kyodo News and the Nagasaki Shimbun,” but has not presented any evidence to support this claim. At the very least, the defendant must explain what kind of proposal the Nagasaki Shimbun made to the defendant as a result of the publication of the book in question, how the defendant responded to this, and what promises the defendant made if the defendant alleges that the relationship of trust between the defendant and the Nagasaki Shimbun was damaged. Otherwise, the defendant’s claim cannot be considered proven.

 

However, the defendant has not clarified this point. Rather, the plaintiff has explained what had happened. Makoto Taniguchi, the manager of the defendant’s Fukuoka branch, visited the Nagasaki Shimbun on November 10, 2022, the book’s publishing date, and apologized for the book’s damage to the reputation of the Nagasaki Shimbun and others. The defendant apologized to the Nagasaki Shimbun without even questioning the plaintiff.

Kyodo News’ silence: 4. Evidence that “The Sanctuary of Bullying” has damaged the public’s trust in the company

The fourth point is that they have not provided any concrete content or evidence to support its claim that “The Sanctuary of Bullying” has undermined Kyodo News’s credibility in the general public.

Fourth, although the defendant claims that the book “damaged public trust in Kyodo News’ articles and the quality of its reporters,” it has not presented any evidence to support this claim. If the defendant claims that the book has damaged public trust in the defendant, its articles, and its reporters, it should clarify the specific damage suffered and present evidence to support this claim.

 

The defendant further claims that whether the book in question harmed the trust it was attempting to safeguard “must be judged on the standards of the general reader.” Nevertheless, as far as the plaintiff knows, no “general readers” have objected to the book in question, and the defendant has not demonstrated their existence.

The document went on to state that, contrary to Kyodo News’ claims, “The Sanctuary of Bullying” is actually trusted and appreciated by society.

On the contrary, this book has received high social acclaim, having been selected as a finalist for the 54th Oya Soichi Non-Fiction Award and winning three other awards, including the Grand Prize at the 12th Japan Journalist Association Awards. These awards were given in response to numerous recommendations from general readers.

Kyodo News’ only “trump card” comes back to haunt itself

In its preliminary documents, attorney Kitamura outlined four points on which Kyodo News was silent, and concluded as follows:

The defendant has not attempted to refute or rebut these points in any way, and such attitude of the defendant in response to the lawsuit should be taken into full consideration.

The only thing Kyodo News is using as a trump card is that Ishikawa did not interview the Nagasaki Shimbun to ask about the company’s view.

The plaintiff has explained their reasons for this though. Ishikawa wrote a book criticizing the Nagasaki Shimbun, based on publicly accessible data and facts.

Kyodo News also criticizes based on facts, even if it has not interviewed the other party. The plaintiff collected past articles from Kyodo News that proved the criticism and submitted them to the court as evidence. Kyodo News has not refuted these.

The company overreached its authority against an individual journalist

Kyodo News has been unable to point out the problems with “The Sanctuary for Bullying” during the lawsuit.

However, in reality, Kyodo News accused Ishikawa of “not meeting the standards of a Kyodo News reporter” based on the content of “The Sanctuary of Bullying”, and removed him from his position as a reporter. This was also mentioned in the trial that day.

When the plaintiff returned to work at the Chiba branch office on April 3, 2023, after returning from six months of parental leave, he was greeted by Takehiko Egashira, Director of General Affairs, who informed him, “As I said earlier, I think it is clear that your expressions regarding this book go against the Guidelines for Journalistic Activities and do not meet the standards of a Kyodo News reporter, so I hope you will reflect on this” and “As a response, the company has decided to ask you to temporarily step away from the field that involves conducting interviews and posting articles.”

Yet in the first place, Ishikawa wrote this book as a journalist after conducting his own investigation, not as part of Kyodo News’s work. Bungeishunju published the book.

Third-party Kyodo News has no right to exercise its authority over human resources because the book’s content was inconvenient for the company. Kyodo News has overreached itself in this case against an individual journalist.

Kyodo News itself must be well aware of this. Many of its executives, including its president, Toru Mizutani, are former reporters who would undoubtedly understand this.

However, when it comes to business, they cannot afford to upset the Nagasaki Shimbun, which is a member company. Perhaps the “silence strategy” was what they came up with when they were trying to somehow get through this lawsuit.

The next pleading: November 1 at 4 p.m. in Courtroom No. 611 of the Tokyo District Court

Both the plaintiff and the defendant submitted supplemental arguments, and the court decided to summarize the arguments submitted by both sides.

The next hearing will be held at 4 p.m. on November 1 in Courtroom 611 of the Tokyo District Court.

To be continued.

(Originally published in Japanese on September 13, 2024. Translation by Mana Shibata.)

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