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Politics in the living room
In the 1950's,
Diet Sessions ushered in a landmark change in political reporting.
TV cameras were first employed in the Diet experimentally on October
24, 1952. The first broadcast included the selection of Yoshida Shigeru
as prime minister.
The live voices of politicians and intense
atmosphere of the Diet played an important role in establishing links
between people and politics.
Political Debate
Political Debate
began as a radio program that emerged from the smoke and ruins of postwar
Japan. This TV program, which went on the air in 1957, exemplified the
spirit of the new constitution. As Sunday
Debate, it continues to this day.
During the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty crisis,
political commentator Karashima Kichizo served as the host. His skills
in highlighting opposing viewpoints and coaxing opposing political parties
into debate were unequalled.
Since then, it has become routine for members
of each party's leadership in the Diet to appear on Political
Debate, where their pronouncements become instant news, making
it a must-see program.
Making economics understandable
In the 1970's, when Japan's era of two-digit
annual economic growth came to an end, a new economics show hit the
airwaves.
Economics for
Everyone, launched in 1971, took up intimidating economic problems
from the perspective of the man or woman on the street. Ito Mitsuharu,
a scholar of economics, was adept at explaining complex issues clearly.
In 1972, Everyday
Economics began. Its "scientific study of lifestyles"
focused on many familiar products as it explored a broad spectrum of
bread-and-butter economic concerns. Welcoming viewer participation and
deeply rooted in everyday life, it enjoyed a 10-year run.
Everyday Economics
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The aim of commentary is to analyze and explain a matter in
a way that makes it readily understandable. News
Commentary started airing just one day after full-scale
TV broadcasting began in Japan. Today, we have Commentary
and Analysis. And the thread linking these programs through
the years has always been lucidity. Explaining something simply
is no easy task. It requires strong reporting, analytical and
communication skills and also experience. In the early days, as
there were few in-house commentators with all of those abilities,
NHK relied on outside experts. Reference materials from the time
suggest that NHK sought outside experts because they were deemed
to enhance the authority and reliability of the commentaries.
Hirasawa
Kazushige,
Analyst |
Half a century later, there are now nearly 50 commentators who
are either employed by or otherwise available to NHK. In many
instances, the expertise that NHK commentators acquire leads them
into university teaching. Through a sustained initiative, NHK
has trained a cadre of commentators who are able to express sophisticated
content in a way that is easy for non-experts to grasp. In the
digital era, such abilities will be even more in demand.
Commentary and Analysis is a prominent example of an old-fashioned
program format that continues to generate valuable glimpses of
the path ahead.
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