Japan Panel Forgoes Scrapping of Broadcast Law’s Key Clause

June 4, 2018

Tokyo- A Japanese government council on Monday stopped short of proposing the scrapping of the broadcasting law's Article 4, which demands that broadcasters be politically fair in reporting.

In its proposals to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the Regulatory Reform Promotion Council called for the overseas expansion of broadcast content and for encouraging the entry of newcomers to the broadcasting industry via allocations of radio frequencies that are no longer in use. It did not, however, seek the abolition of the political fairness clause.

"We received many specific proposals including the creation of a business model that goes beyond the limits of telecommunications and broadcasting," Abe told the council's meeting. "I hope the communications ministry will continue to take the lead in comprehensively examining how broadcasting should be when looking ahead."

In March this year, the idea of eliminating the political fairness clause was floated within the government to make it easier for online companies to enter the broadcasting sector.

But existing broadcasters strongly opposed the idea, claiming that the government's aim was to hold in check unfavorable reporting by them. After some lawmakers of the Liberal Democratic Party-led ruling bloc also expressed concerns over the abolition, it was not included in the latest proposals.

The council called for drawing a conclusion at an early date on whether to allow public broadcaster Japan Broadcasting Corp., or NHK, to begin to broadcast television programs simultaneously on the Internet.

Besides broadcast system reforms, the report proposed conditionally lifting a ban on providing instructions on the use of drugs over the Internet, with the aim of promoting online medical services.

In addition, the report sought reviews of restrictions on wooden construction, in order to make the forestry industry a growth sector. It also called for measures to raise the employment rate of foreign students studying in Japan.

The government will develop an implementation plan based on the 120 regulatory reform proposals in seven fields compiled by the council. Jiji Press