Nagasaki Shimbun Headquaters (photo by Nanami Nakagawa on November 10, 2024) 

What on earth is the Nagasaki Shimbun thinking?

Yoichi Ishikawa, a then Kyodo News reporter, released “The Sanctuary of Bullying” in November 2022 through Bungeishunju. He criticized the Nagasaki Shimbun in his book. Kyodo News accused Ishikawa, informed him of a reprint prohibition, and terminated his employment as a reporter.

In response, Ishikawa filed a lawsuit against Kyodo News in July 2023. This is the “freedom of the press trial” that is being reported in this series.

Nevertheless, the Nagasaki Shimbun has exposed Kyodo News to the flames while remaining silent throughout this period.

Tansa obtained a document that reveals the “real intention” of the Nagasaki Shimbun. It is about 5,000 characters long and spans four A4 pages. The document was sent by the Nagasaki Shimbun to Kyodo News in December 2022, the month after the book was published.

The title was “Opinion on ‘The Sanctuary of Bullying’ by a Kyodo News reporter.”

The statement contained terms that could only be regarded as a rejection of its mission as a news organization.

Kyodo News Nagasaki Bureau Chief sends email to Director General of General Affairs Bureau regarding “Ishikawa problem”

On December 19, 2022, Kyodo News Nagasaki Bureau Chief Osamu Yamashita sent an email to General Affairs Bureau Director Takehiko Egashira at the company’s headquarters.

Subject: Re: About Nagasaki Shimbun Report

 

Mr. Egashira

 

This is Yamashita from the Nagasaki Bureau.

 

I am attaching the Nagasaki Shimbun’s report (opinion) on the Ishikawa problem. There are 4 pages in total.

 

Thank you very much.

 

Kyodo News Nagasaki Bureau

Osamu Yamashita

The “Ishikawa problem” that Kyodo News refers to is the reporter Yoichi Ishikawa, who wrote “The Sanctuary of Bullying.” At the time the book was published, he had been transferred from the Nagasaki Bureau to the Chiba Bureau.

“The Sanctuary of Bullying” is a book that follows the case of a high school student in Nagasaki Prefecture who committed suicide as a result of bullying.

Hayato Fukuura, a 16-year-old second-year student at the private high school Kaisei Gakuen, committed suicide in 2017 after being bullied by his classmates. He hung himself from a tree in a park near his house, with a shoulder bag containing a suicide note.

The family wanted to know the truth about their son’s death. However, the school suggested to the family that they announce it as a “sudden death” rather than a “suicide.” Not only is this not true, but fabricating a cause of death is also against national guidelines. This was completely unacceptable to the family.

Although the family asked the prefecture for help, the prefecture approved the school’s proposal, saying, “‘sudden death’ is barely permissible.” The prefecture later held an emergency press conference and apologized to the family for its inappropriate remarks.

Nonetheless, the coverage of this case was inconsistent. The local newspaper, the Nagasaki Shimbun, was reluctant to pursue the local government, Nagasaki Prefecture.

In “The Sanctuary of Bullying,” Ishikawa criticizes schools and government agencies that try to cover up bullying-related suicide, and also criticizes the reporting stance of the local newspaper, the Nagasaki Shimbun.

The Nagasaki Shimbun took issue with the criticism of its company in the book as soon as it was published by Bungeishunju on November 9, 2022. News Headquarters Director Takaki Yamada, News Director Mukaii, and Nagasaki Shimbun Editor-in-Chief Kenji Ishida made a complaint when Kyodo News Fukuoka branch manager Makoto Taniguch came to apologize the day after the book was published.

About a month later, on December 19, 2022, the Nagasaki Shimbun submitted to Kyodo News its “Opinion on ‘The Sanctuary of Bullying’ by a Kyodo News reporter.” As stated in the email at the beginning, Kyodo News Nagasaki Bureau Chief Yamashita delivered it to the head of the General Affairs Bureau, Egashira.

“The aim of undermining the Nagasaki Shimbun’s social credibility”

In the opinion paper, the Nagasaki Shimbun commented on Ishikawa’s book as follows:

The contents of Chapter 11 of this book intentionally misinterpret the facts and attack the Nagasaki Shimbun. The main motive seems to be a personal grudge against the local media, including our company, for not picking up the article that reporter Ishikawa himself distributed as a “scoop.”

 

From our perspective, this is nothing more than a malicious book that ignores facts that are inconvenient for reporter Ishikawa and intentionally twists and interprets only the facts that are convenient for him, with the aim of undermining the Nagasaki Shimbun’s social credibility.

So what is the basis for the Nagasaki Shimbun’s claim that the book is “malicious”?

For example, he described an article in the Nagasaki Shimbun as “a tiny article that appears to be nothing more than an alibi.”

The following is what happened.

In November 2020, through his own investigation, Ishikawa uncovered new facts that the Nagasaki Prefectural General Affairs Department’s Academic Affairs Promotion Division’s Counselor Osamu Matsuo had endorsed the school’s proposal to declare Hayato’s suicide a “sudden death.” The Academic Affairs Promotion Division is the department that oversees private schools. Despite this, he confirmed the proposal to fabricate the cause of death. It was a scoop. When Kyodo News reported, “Kaisei High camouflages suicide as ‘sudden death’ / Nagasaki Prefecture also confirms, suspected violation of national guidelines,” the story was featured on the top page of Yahoo! News, and the Nagasaki Prefectural Government was inundated with calls of protest.

The next day, the prefectural general affairs department held an emergency press conference, admitted that the confirmation remarks had been inappropriate, and apologized to the bereaved family.

The day after the press conference, media outlets such as the Nishinippon Shimbun and the Yomiuri Shimbun reported on the prefecture’s failings.

Each company also interviewed the family and published the comments of the father, Daisuke.

“I was surprised that both the prefecture and the school seemed to be pushing the term ‘sudden death.” (Nishinippon Shimbun)

“I felt uncomfortable with the remarks made by the prefecture. I hope that similar remarks will not be made in the future.” (Yomiuri Shimbun)

However, the Nagasaki Shimbun was different. It only carried a small article in a space the size of one column on the paper. In his book, Ishikawa described this as “a tiny article that appears to be nothing more than an alibi.”

The headline was “‘Sudden death’ confirmation report; prefecture ‘actively’ denies / Kaisei student commits suicide.” The article itself was defending the prefecture. It described Ishikawa’s scoop as “a media report” and put forward the prefecture’s explanation at the press conference.

“We don’t think the prefecture actively confirmed the proposal of the school as correct.”

“We think they may have taken the expression ‘sudden death’’ a little lightly by emphasizing that ‘transferring schools is strange.’”

How can they know without interviewing the family?

The voice of the bereaved family was not addressed at all. The Nagasaki Shimbun explained the reason for this in the opinion paper.

In a press conference, the prefecture acknowledged that the person in charge at the time had instructed the school that “transfer is not appropriate because it is contrary to the fact,” but had also said that “in some cases, sudden death could be appropriate,” and apologized to the family. Our paper simply reported that statement as it was.

 

In a 2019 press conference, the bereaved family only pointed out that the school had proposed the sudden death, and made no mention of the prefecture’s approval, so it seems likely that, at least initially, the family did not see the prefecture’s response as problematic. This time, the prefecture apologized for the matter that Kyodo News raised, so there is no need for us to contact the family and have them go to the trouble of responding to an interview.

Without interviewing the bereaved family, can it really be said that “at least initially, the family did not see the prefecture’s response as problematic?”

Using the Press Club as a cover

The Nagasaki Shimbun’s opinion paper also refuted the following statement in Ishikawa’s book:

Ota found unexpected help from a veteran male reporter at the Nagasaki Shimbun. He interrupted the conversation between the author and Ota and said:

“Because the press conference gets streamed on YouTube, it might be defamatory to put out someone’s name. You may ask questions on your own, but it could become a problem for the press club. Be aware of that. As a prefectural press club, we can’t overlook your behavior if you go too far.”

The following is the supplement of the situation at the time.

At a gubernatorial press conference in December 2020, Ishikawa mentioned the name of former counselor Osamu Matsuo, who confirmed the term “sudden death.”

At the time, Matsuo was the principal of a public high school in the prefecture. Ishikawa questioned Governor Hodo Nakamura about whether it was appropriate for Matsuo, who did not understand the laws and guidelines, to take on the principal position.

In response to this question, General Affairs Manager Kei Ota offers a warning.

“It’s against the rules to ask the Governor something like that!”

“Matsuo Osamu said that sudden death is barely permissible in a series of conversations. Could you not cut out just a part of it and stop asking about it here?”

Ishikawa and Ota got into an argument, and then Koichi Doshita, a veteran male reporter from the Nagasaki Shimbun, came to Ota’s aid.

The Nagasaki Shimbun’s opinion paper supports Doshita’s words and actions at that time.

According to the book, our reporter merely warned Ishikawa that his question, which was being broadcast live online and in which he named a prefectural official who was not a criminal and asked a question that seemed to criticize his character, could be construed as defamatory, and that if that were to occur, it would be a problem that would affect the entire press club.

 

Other companies also raised doubts about Ishikawa’s question at the press conference. In January 2021, Osamu Yamashita, the bureau chief of Kyodo News Nagasaki, apologized via email to all companies affiliated with the press club through the prefecture, stating that “it was inconsiderate to ask a question by naming a prefectural official at the governor’s press conference.” Nevertheless, the book makes no reference to this fact.

However, Matsuo was in charge of dealing with the bereaved family as a prefectural official called a “counselor.” He later served as a high school principal.

This person responded in violation of national guidelines in a serious case involving a high school student’s suicide due to bullying. What is the problem with criticizing him by name?

The Nagasaki Shimbun claims that Kyodo News and the press club share the same view. However, this is essentially an unintentional admission of collusion between the government and the press club member companies.

Draft review by a third party

The Nagasaki Shimbun’s opinion paper even stated that it may have breached the Constitution’s clause of “freedom of expression.” It stated that a third party was reviewing the drafts.

Ishikawa requested and received approval from Kyodo News at the Chiba Bureau to publish this book. However, as previously stated, when Ishikawa worked at the Nagasaki Bureau, his actions caused a problem in the Nagasaki press club, for which the Nagasaki Bureau director apologized.

 

Apologizing to the press club is a serious matter for a news organization, and the information should have been shared with both the headquarters and the Chiba Bureau where he was transferred. It is difficult to understand why the Chiba Bureau chief so easily approved publication and did not even check the drafts.

“The Sanctuary of Bullying” is a book written outside of working hours by Ishikawa, who was given permission to write outside the company, and published by Bungeishunju. Kyodo News is a third party in terms of publishing. It is an overstep of authority for a third party to check the drafts before publication.

Article 21 of the Constitution, which guarantees freedom of expression, prohibits, in principle, any actions that lead to the prior restraint of expression. This is because people’s right to know should not be jeopardized by concealing information in advance.

The Nagasaki Shimbun’s allegation that because Ishikawa caused problems at the press club, which is a place of collusion with the administration, a third party should review the drafts is incomprehensible.

“This book will continue to injure our reputation indefinitely, causing further damage”

The Nagasaki Shimbun’s opinion paper was concluded by pointing out the relationship between Kyodo News and the Nagasaki Shimbun.

This problem affects all of Kyodo News’s member companies, not just ours. We, a local newspaper, wish to sue for defamation when a weekly magazine or other media publishes an article without facts, but we are forced to accept it due to the high cost of legal defense. If the other person was unconnected, we may give up, but this time it’s a Kyodo News reporter, with whom we are practically related. Compared to other businesses in the sector, Kyodo News and local newspapers have closer ties and share a wide range of information. This is a result of their mutual trust. This time, if Kyodo News said, “We won’t respond because it’s outside our business,” the relationship would be broken.

 

This book, which damages our company’s social credibility, has already been published nationwide, is on store shelves in Nagasaki Prefecture, and is being purchased and loaned out at libraries across the country. This book will continue to injure our reputation indefinitely, causing further damage. We are neither requesting an apology from Kyodo News for this incident, nor are we requesting that they take disciplinary action against the reporter in question. Given that we have arrived at this point, we would like to know how Kyodo News would respond to our company.

Isn’t the Nagasaki Shimbun’s opinion paper a threat that takes advantage of its position as a member company of Kyodo News? That’s what I think.

Has the Nagasaki Shimbun ever considered how the bereaved family might feel when they read this document?

After obtaining this document, Tansa quickly traveled to Nagasaki to interview the bereaved family members.

I will report on this in the next article.

To be continued.

(Originally published in Japanese on November 15, 2024. Translation by Mana Shibata.)

Adults in the Student Suicide Case: All articles