Industry Discussion: The Development and Characteristics of the Newspaper Industry in Japan

The total number of circulation exceeded 73 million, with 680 copies per 1,000 people

Japan is a veritable country in the media industry. The developed and advanced nature of the media industry is reflected in all aspects of society. From the basic and traditional forms of media - paper media, newspapers, magazines, to the most publicity, the most widespread broadcasts and televisions, to the now-popular, world-leading cyberspace, it can be said that we are walking The world leader. Japan’s Kyodo News Agency and the current affairs agency are all world-renowned news agencies. The Japan Broadcasting Association’s NHK also has almost the same influence as the British BBC and the United States’ CBS. Even private TV stations such as TBS, Fuji, Asahi, and others all have great appeal among the citizens. Their backstage are the well-known big chaebols or enterprise groups. They constantly develop, perfect, and expand in the competition, intertwining and supporting the nation. The huge media system plays a decisive role. The meaning of “news” in Japanese is the newspaper. Here is a brief introduction to the development of the Japanese newspaper industry.

Newspapers in the modern sense of Japan first appeared in the 1870s and were born in Yokohama. Since then, newspapers of all sizes have mushroomed. Now Japan's largest "Yomiuri Shimbun", "Asahi Shimbun", "Daily News" and so on, all originated in that era, all have a history of 143 years. After numerous mergers, we have reached the scale of today. Especially after the Second World War, under the support of the United States, Japan’s media industry, especially the newspaper industry, took off simultaneously with the development of Japan’s economy. The circulation has increased at an extremely rapid rate. It took just over ten years to surpass the Several major American newspapers and magazines, such as The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, have made Japan a big newspaper country.

According to the most common distribution area law, Japanese newspapers can be divided into three categories: national newspapers, local newspapers, and county newspapers. In addition to the above-mentioned "Yomiuri Shimbun", "Asahi Shimbun" and "Daily News", the national newspaper also includes "Sankei Shimbun" and "Japanese Economic News." Today, the three circulations of the “Yomiuri Shimbun”, “Asahi Shimbun” and “Daily News” have reached 10 million, 8 million and 4 million copies respectively, ranking the world’s top three. The circulation of newspapers is also more than 2 million copies. They are collectively referred to as the "five major newspapers" and monopolize the Japanese newspaper industry. Local newspapers refer to newspapers issued by one issuer and issued in one of Japan’s major geography or administrative regions, and have a considerable number and size of newspapers, such as “Hokkaido News,” “Tokyo News,” and “China-Japan News.” , "West Japan News", etc., The circulation of these newspapers is also from 800,000 to 2 million, with a large readership in the region. There are also prefectural newspapers. Japan's administrative region has 1 metropolitan area, 1 metropolitan area, 2 prefectures, and 43 prefectures, each of which has its own regional newspaper and is known as "one county per newspaper." In addition, there are professional newspapers, special newspapers, organ newspapers, student newspapers and so on. According to the “Japan News Yearbook 2006”, the total number of Japanese newspapers and periodicals has exceeded 73 million copies, reaching a level of 680 copies per 1,000 people. This is an amazing number and it is naturally ranked first in the world.

The total number of five major newspapers accounts for more than half of the country

There are different opinions on the attitude of the government. According to the curriculum taught by the Japan Press Academy, according to the different social systems, the propaganda and media systems of various countries in the world can be roughly divided into four theoretical types: authoritarian theory, liberal theory, social responsibility theory, and communist (all) theories. . China is a socialist country and adopts the theory of totalism. Japan, like most capitalist countries, follows the theoretical foundation of liberalism in the media industry. Due to the political system, Japan’s media and newspaper industry did not have too strict restrictions on the so-called “absolute press freedom”.

Taking the five national newspapers as an example, according to the different historical development processes, they all have their own reader groups, and their own attitude towards their own government also has their own arguments. For example, “Yomiuri Shimbun” is a pro-government newspaper and a right-wing newspaper; “Nihon Keizai Shimbun” has a conservative attitude; “Asahi Shimbun” and “Daily Shimbun” adopt the “Critique of the Government” tone, while the “Sankei Shimbun” completely It is a right-wing newspaper.

A large number of distributions and high penetration rate. Japan’s newspapers and magazines have a world-wide total distribution and per capita penetration rate. There are as many as seven newspapers with a circulation of more than one million copies. This is an alarming figure for a country with a population of just over one hundred million. Japan's newspaper industry has a large number of publications and high penetration rate reflected in the following data. The first is that its circulation is among the highest in the world. According to data from the World Press Association, the total number of Japanese newspapers and magazines has reached 73 million copies, ranking second in the world. The only country that surpasses it is the rapid development of journalism and journalism in recent years. Close to 90 million copies, but China's population is 13 times that of Japan. Next are the United States, India, Germany, and the United Kingdom, but there is a big gap between Japan and Japan in the total number of issues. In the case of the United States, which has the most developed newspaper industry, the circulation of newspapers and periodicals is only 55 million.

In recent years, with the rapid popularization and rapid development of online media, although Japan’s newspaper and magazine penetration rate has shrunk, the number of newspapers per 1,000 people still ranks first in the world at 684. Close to them are countries such as Norway, Iceland, and Sweden, but the total number of these countries can't be compared with Japan. For example, the newspapers and magazines in Norway have reached 680 per 1,000 people, occupying the top of the world, but its newspapers and periodicals The total issuance volume is only 2.5 million copies. The high penetration rate is due to its small population, and it cannot be compared with the influence of news. China’s newspapers and magazines have a current penetration rate of 90 or so per thousand people. They have made great progress before the reform and opening up and even in the 1990s. They can only be one-seventh of the penetration rate of newspapers and magazines in Japan. The total number of newspapers and periodicals issued in Japan does not include newspaper groups or newspapers that do not join the Japan Press Association. If comprehensive statistics are made, it is estimated that the numbers will be alarming. Therefore, it is no exaggeration to say that Japan is a country where individuals love to read newspapers.

The existence of a huge newspaper and magazine group and the monopolization and oligarchization of the newspaper industry. The five national distribution papers “Yomiuri Shimbun”, “Asahi Shimbun”, “Daily News”, “Sankei Shimbun” and “Nihon Keizai Shimbun” have accounted for 53% of the total number of newspapers and periodicals in the country. The overall influence and other aspects occupy an absolute dominant position. Take Kanagawa Prefecture in the Kanto region of Japan as an example. In the statistics of subscriptions and retail sales in the press in 2006, the proportions of the above five major newspapers accounted for 30%, 27.3%, 7%, 3.1%, and 7.7% respectively. The Kanagawa News released was only 6%, and all other newspapers and magazines accounted for 18.9% of the market share. The monopoly and huge influence of several national newspapers and periodicals is evident. The monopoly of the five major newspapers has benefited from having their own printing and distribution agencies throughout Japan. Both are known as the “headquarters” such as Tokyo Head Office, Osaka Head Office, Western Head Office, and Nagoya Head Office. They can have such a large and robust printing and distribution system. With these newspaper groups have a long history, strong financial and material support and other reasons can not be separated.

These large newspaper groups also publish an evening issue (evening) in addition to the issue of the Japanese Journal. If the circulation of Japanese and Japanese publications is added together, the data is even more amazing. Take the "Yomiuri Shimbun" and "Asahi Shimbun" as examples. The former has 10.22 million copies of daily publications and 4.25 million articles on the evening. The latter two statistics are 8.32 million copies and 4.15 million copies respectively. Individual statistics can exceed the sum of the newspapers and magazines issued by most countries in the world, making it the largest newspaper in the world. The following two data can be used as reference to verify the huge scale of major newspaper groups in Japan: Germany's "Bild" (the largest circulation newspaper outside Japan) with a circulation of 3.99 million copies; the British "The Sun" (world-famous Entertainment newspapers and periodicals), with circulation of 3.3 million copies.

The division of newspapers and magazines is not obvious. Newspaper “grade” means that newspapers and journals can be broadly divided into two categories: “senior newspaper” and “popular newspaper” according to the readers’ class, editorial guidelines, and content of reports. This is particularly typical in Europe, especially in the United Kingdom. is also like this.

For example, the British "The Times", even if the circulation is not the first place, but its editorial policy is based on major international and domestic political and economic news, with a large number of upper class readers, great influence, public opinion has a significant effect , with the "high profile" obvious characteristics. Another example is the "Sun", which targets the general public as the reader and entertainment news as the "popular newspaper" and "tabloid newspaper." However, according to a survey conducted by Japan's Economic Planning Office, for Japanese newspapers, this distinction is very vague. The all-embracing content of newspaper reports, and the unclear ownership of the readers’ class, have caused this state of affairs. Even the heavyweight newspapers such as Asahi Shimbun are also the same. The editorial can criticize the actions of the prime minister. The middle page is a prediction of the important race competitions on the weekend, and the famous actor's anecdotes can be introduced later.