09/09 BBC: How has social media changed the way newsrooms work?

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Post categories: BBC News channel

 Kevin Bakhurst | 10:30 UK time, Friday, 9 September 2011

Earlier today I gave a talk at the International Broadcasting Convention in Amsterdam about how social media has changed the way newsrooms work. The full transcript of the speech is below.

BBC News, like all major news providers, has been transformed by technology and the opportunities it offers over the last 20 or so years. Social media is the latest tectonic plate to move and change the landscape.

It may seem like re-stating the obvious but looking in our rear-view mirror back along the road of technological change shows just how news has changed: typewriters out, computers in; newspaper cuttings libraries closed as the internet opened access to information; mobile phones rather than messages at hotel receptions; satellite technology to feed material rather than tapes put on planes and so on.

Powered by these changes, news has become 24 hours a day; immediate; available on new platforms; mobile. And now the latest powerful tool to change news - social media.

As we'll hear from my colleagues here later, all big news organisations are plunging into the world of social media, looking at its extraordinary newsgathering potential; its potential as a new tool to engage the audience; and as a way of distributing our news.

The BBC, as an early presence on the web, also spotted the possibilities of social media quickly and it has become a highly important and fast-moving part of our multimedia newsroom, as I will outline shortly.

The other area I will also touch on is the range of new challenges and questions that social media poses for the established news providers - like the BBC, CNN, Sky and al-Jazeera.

First, the practical role and influence of social media in the BBC's multimedia newsroom and for BBC News as a whole.

For BBC News, social media currently has three key, highly valuable roles in our journalism:

• newsgathering - it helps us gather more, and sometimes better, material; we can find a wider ranges of voices, ideas and eyewitnesses quickly

• audience engagement - how we listen to and talk to our audiences, and allowing us to speak to different audiences - and

• a platform for our content - it's a way of us getting our journalism out there, in short form or as a tool to take people to our journalism on the website, TV or radio. It allows us to engage different and younger audiences.

The BBC already has a fair track record of inviting the audience to get involved in our journalism - web forums; debates; blogs and comments, and most recently incorporating comment within our website story pages, particularly on the live pages.

We are proud of the standards we have set in processing, sifting and verifying material sent to us and sourced through social newsgathering, giving us a new dimension when telling some of the major stories of recent times - the Japan tsunami; the Arab Spring; the Burma uprisings; the Norway shootings; the riots in England.

The team we have allows us to fully engage in using this material, and reinforce the BBC values that our audience expects, in particular accuracy. So we managed to avoid, for example, use of the photo-shopped Bin Laden body photo after his killing.

Many of our leading journalists and presenters now incorporate social media platforms into their work: Tim Willcox; Lyse Doucet; Robert Peston and until recently Laura Kuenssberg (who has now been joined by her Twitter followers, with our blessing, at ITV News).

We've innovated, experimenting with branded hashtags to curate coverage; visualising Royal Wedding day tweets on our website; and work is under way to seamlessly integrate field despatches from our correspondents and reporters into our core news services and social media output.

And like many established news providers, we have created an open and modern set of guidance to help our staff engage, gather news and spread their journalism, working within the BBC's editorial values that are at the core of our journalism.

Here's a short video we've just made to illustrate briefly the role of social media right now in the BBC Newsroom.

However, now I'd like to add just a little context to the growth of social media for the audiences of BBC News.

Since its launch Twitter has obviously seen rapid growth.

Look at the @BBCBreaking account which has increased its number of followers very rapidly even in the last 12 months.

It looks impressive, and it is, but compare that with consumption via the website, which has also grown very rapidly, now attracting an average 9m users a day.

And still the home of our biggest audiences by a country mile is TV News with the BBC News Channel's average weekly audience up 50% in the last year, and the BBC1 TV bulletins reaching 17.5 million viewers in a week.

Social media has strong growth and huge potential - it's a great tool for our journalism, as we've seen, but for the BBC, still draws relatively small numbers. I would say a "small" but highly engaged, dedicated and vociferous part of our audience.

And that leads me on to the second main area I would like to address - and those are the wider challenges presented to so-called "traditional" media by social media.

For good or for ill - and sometimes it is for good, and sometimes not, social media has trashed many of the foundations on which "traditional" media stands. And in all honesty I can raise questions about this but I don't think we yet have all the answers:

• Privacy. In particular privacy of the individual, where are the boundaries? Are there any areas off limits? It seems we can all discuss pregnancies, affairs, ethics, finances, abilities, families. It's out there on Twitter and Facebook and there's no real protection for what, until now, has been largely personal or private.

It leaves traditional media in a very different universe. We mitigate this via very clear guidelines to our staff, which states that although content placed on social media or other websites "may be considered to have been placed in the public domain, re-use by the BBC will usually bring it to a much wider audience". They go on to say that: "We should consider the impact of our re-use, particularly when in connection with tragic or distressing events."

• Anonymity. Many people joining the debate or discussion or sometimes accusing, or attacking, have no name and no face and therefore no seeming personal responsibility for the impact or truth or validity of what they publicly say. Professional journalists, like ours, encouraged to engage in social media spaces but held to account for their views and values, often find themselves engaged in a wholly uneven discussion on coverage or stories with an invisible opponent.

• Ethics. Most of us work within an ethical framework. We won't report the death of a loved one until the family know; we won't just steal material from others; we try to establish facts before pushing a story out there. These are all fundamental and long cherished principles of the way BBC News operates. But not the ground rules of many using social media.

• The Rule of Law. We work within the laws of our land - we avoid libel; or contempt of court; or revealing the names of young victims or juveniles accused of crimes. We don't break court injunctions. Some social media users do many of these things.

Sometimes it has been argued they show up the failings of the laws of the land, and they may do, but often it is done in ignorance of the law, or simply on the assumption that it doesn't matter. And that can leave traditional media looking slow or stick-in-the mud or somehow part of an "establishment" that doesn't tell the whole truth. Look at the case of Ryan Giggs.

• The role of traditional media. Some of our role is probably gone. Will we be "First with the Breaking News"? Probably not in many cases. Someone on Twitter will be. Will we have the first still of a hero or victim? Facebook probably will have it. Will we get the first video out of Syria or Burma? YouTube will almost certainly have it posted first, although we'll often be one of the first to verify it's genuine (or not).

• Audience interaction. This can be a great way of hearing what your audience has to say, and answering questions or engaging. We have sophisticated ways of measuring what our audiences consume, and we keep an eye on what's being said to us and about our content, all of which we consider in our editorial discussions.

However there's a real danger lurking here - namely that we mistake the squalls on Twitter or the views of ten or 20 vociferous tweeters for the view of the audience as a whole. It may be that it is, but it often isn't, and we shouldn't necessarily be swayed in our editorial judgements by a noisy but small row on Twitter.

These are some of the challenges we face with social media and we grapple with them every day.

But you can take those challenges and say that the uncertainties they introduce can actually underline the strengths that established news organisations have, for a very large part of the audience.

In the sea of many voices and stories of claims and general noise, we know there remains an appetite for a journalism that is based on the values that news audiences of "traditional" organisations' like the BBC value most highly of all : truth; accuracy; integrity; verification; independence; and yes, speed. The new environment we are all living in can underline in the audience's mind the values of our journalism.

Lastly, social media shines a powerful light on all that we do. It can be uncomfortable at times but it is ultimately a great thing. It will help keep us all honest. Those traditional organisations who abandon those core values and aspirations will be found out - there is unrelenting examination of all we do - and those who don't live up to their values will quickly surrender their value to audiences in this new world.

Kevin Bakhurst is deputy head of the BBC Newsroom

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09/09 Library gift a tribute to U.S. teacher lost in tsunami

The Yomiuri Shimbun

ISHINOMAKI, Miyagi--The family of an American woman who died in the March 11 tsunami has presented students at a primary school in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, with a collection of 40 of her favorite books.

"I hope you'll read these books, find your dreams and live with courage, like my daughter did," Andy Anderson, 54, said Tuesday to a group of about 60 students during a presentation ceremony at Mangokuura Primary School.

Taylor Anderson, 24, was from the U.S. state of Virginia. She came to Japan in 2008 and worked as an assistant English teacher at several primary and middle schools in Ishinomaki.

On the day of the Great East Japan Earthquake, she made sure her students at Mangokuura were safely evacuated. On her way home, she was killed by the tsunami.

A school Taylor attended in the United States helped establish a fund to buy the book collection, which has been dubbed the "Taylor Library."

"When she was young, once she started reading a book, there was no stopping her. She would read and let her imagination take over," her father said at the ceremony.

Taylor's dream was to become a conduit between Japan and the United States and reading books led to the realization of her dream.

On behalf of all the students, Kaito Hikichi, 12, thanked Taylor's family in English.

"Miss Taylor talked about Harry Potter, and I felt close to her. I'll think of this book as a symbol of her, and take good care of it," Hikichi said.

Taylor's family plans to also present books to the other six schools where Taylor worked.

(Sep. 9, 2011)

09/09 Shares may pay for recovery / Postal reforms key to raising 7 tril. yen for disaster reconstruction

The Yomiuri Shimbun

The government and the ruling Democratic Party of Japan are considering allocating profits from sales of Japan Post Holdings Co. shares, which are wholly held by the state, to fund reconstruction from the March 11 disaster, according to sources.

The government has estimated profits from selling the shares at about 7 trillion yen, based on the stocks' book value, which would cover a significant amount of the 16.2 trillion yen required over the next five years for disaster reconstruction.

However, the passage of postal reform bills, which have stalled in the Diet due to resistance from opposition parties, must come before selling Japan Post shares. The government intends to request dialogue with the opposition and may revise the bills if necessary, the sources said.

Under the DPJ, a law to freeze sales of Japan Post shares was enacted in 2009 to prevent a Liberal Democratic Party push for full privatization of the postal service.

The postal reform bills currently being promoted by the DPJ would require the government to own more than one-third of Japan Post shares. If legislation is passed into law, the government would be able to sell about 66 percent of those shares.

"If profits from selling Japan Post shares can be used for reconstruction, we can keep tax increases to a minimum. We would likely be able to win the understanding of the opposition bloc," one DPJ senior official said.

Some members of the opposition camp support the idea.

"If Japan Post shares can be sold, a considerable amount of funds would be secured," said Keiichi Ishii, chairman of the New Komeito policy research council.

However, both the LDP and Komeito have opposed the postal reform bills, arguing government ownership of more than one-third of Japan Post shares allows the government to maintain influence over the postal service and weigh on rival private companies.

It remains unknown whether the postal reform bills will be passed in the Diet.

Meanwhile, the government is planning to issue reconstruction bonds of more than 16 trillion yen to finance disaster reconstruction efforts; profits from the sale of Japan Post shares could be used for reimbursement of those bonds.

Apparently, the government would not be required to sell its Japan Post shares immediately, and doing so within a time frame of several years would suffice.

Because state assets would be tapped to fund reconstruction, the plan may face criticism that the financial burden from the move would be passed on to future generations.

(Sep. 9, 2011)

09/09 Earlier onset of AIDS symptoms in HIV-infected reported

The Yomiuri Shimbun

Cases of early development of AIDS symptoms in people who have contracted the HIV virus have been increasing, a Japanese researcher said Thursday.

According to Shinichi Oka, head of the AIDS Clinical Center of the National Center for Global Health and Medicine, a mutation of the human immuno virus is causing the earlier onset of AIDS symptoms.

Drugs are available to greatly delay the onset of AIDS symptoms. However, such treatment will become difficult if cases of early development of AIDS symptoms continue to increase.

Oka's team compared data of 42 people infected with HIV up until 1988 with that of 82 people confirmed to be infected between 1997 and 2007. The team compared numbers of a specific type of white blood cell.

Reductions in the amount of the white cells indicates a person's immunity is declining and they will eventually require treatment.

Among those infected by the end of 1988, 50 percent did not require treatment within three to five years of contracting HIV.

However, among those infected after 1997, 50 percent reached levels requiring treatment after six months.

Nearly 90 percent of those people reached such levels within three years of contracting HIV.

Oka's research team is planning a major initiative to be undertaken at hospitals considered AIDS hubs in Japan and South Korea, investigating the development of symptoms and mechanisms behind the mutation of HIV.

In fiscal 2011, several domestic facilities will be investigated. From fiscal 2012 the number will increase to more than 10, including institutions in South Korea. Oka plans to gather information on more than 2,000 patients.

The research was to be officially endorsed by the national center after discussions at its ethics committee Thursday night.

It has been learned in recent years that the HIV virus has mutated into several strains and standard Japanese white blood cells struggle to cope with the new strains. This may be the cause of the faster onset of AIDS symptoms, medical sources said.

(Sep. 9, 2011)

09/09 Maehara: Review arms export policy / Mentions SDF weapon use in U.S. speech

Yuko Mukai / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

WASHINGTON--Seiji Maehara, the ruling Democratic Party of Japan's policy chief, on Wednesday said Japan needs to review its three principles on arms exports and ease restrictions on the Self-Defense Forces' use of weapons during overseas operations.

In a speech at a symposium in Washington, Maehara said doing so could deepen the Japan-U.S. alliance and increase Japan's contributions to international peacekeeping operations.

In Tokyo, Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura said at a press conference Thursday that the government "will consider" conducting a review of the principles.

Observers said Maehara's speech was designed to show that the administration of Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda intends to center its foreign policy on the Japan-U.S. alliance.

Maehara's visit to the United States is apparently intended to smooth the way for Noda, who is scheduled to make a speech at a U.N. General Assembly meeting in New York beginning Sept. 21.

Maehara, chairman of the DPJ's Policy Research Committee and a former foreign minister, said in the speech that the extent of SDF participation in U.N. peacekeeping operations is "still not enough."

"We need to solve legal issues," he said in English.

In particular, Maehara called for easing regulations on the use of arms by the SDF, "to enable the SDF to defend other countries' military units operating with the SDF from imminent and unlawful infringement."

He also indicated the government and the DPJ will look into the matter.

Currently, SDF personnel involved in overseas operations, such as U.N. peacekeeping efforts, are allowed to use arms only to defend themselves or other SDF troops.

Reviewing the three principles on arms exports would address the risk of Japan's defense industry being left behind in the international race to develop innovative technology, including weapons technology, Maehara said.

Conducting a review of the principles was raised under the administration of former Prime Minister Naoto Kan, which considered making it a stipulation in the basic national defense policy that was approved last December. But out of consideration for the Social Democratic Party, with which the DPJ was trying to form a coalition, Kan's Cabinet dropped the idea.

Maehara's remarks appear to be aimed at rekindling discussions on the issue within the government and the ruling party.

At a press conference Monday, new Defense Minister Yasuo Ichikawa said, "It would be possible to consider [carrying out a review]."

===

TPP decision coming 'ASAP'

Also on Wednesday, Maehara held talks with U.S. Deputy Secretary of State William Burns at the U.S. State Department.

Maehara told Burns the Noda administration will make a final decision as soon as possible regarding whether Japan will join the Trans-Pacific Partnership regional trade agreement, according to sources.

However, Maehara stopped short of specifying a time by which Tokyo will make the decision, the sources said.

(Sep. 9, 2011)

09/09 余録：人づてに言葉が渡っていくうちに…

　人づてに言葉が渡っていくうちにどんどん変わっていくさまを楽しむ伝言ゲームである。同じような遊びは世界中にあって「電話ゲーム」という名がついているところが多い。「壊れた電話」や「コードのない電話」と呼ぶ国もある▲「チャイニーズ・ウイスパーズ」、つまり「中国人のささやき」というのは英国だ。「アラブ人の電話」はフランス。東洋人の言葉は訳が分からないというかつての偏見から生まれた名前であろう。英語の辞書には「ロシア人のスキャンダル」という言い方も見える▲人は伝言ゲームで、自分の関心を強く引きつけた言葉を軸にして伝言内容を無意識のうちに作り替えてしまうのだという。むろん子供の遊びならよいが、国家的危機への対処における情報伝達にはあってはならないことだ▲菅直人前首相が先ごろのインタビューで「伝言ゲーム」と評した福島第１原発事故初動での首相官邸と東京電力本店、現場との意思疎通だ。問題視された事故当初の現場視察や、東電本店に乗り込んでの指示をめぐる釈明でもあるが、感じたもどかしさは事実だろう▲とくに気になるのは東電から経済産業相経由で現場撤退の意向が伝えられ、前首相自ら東電本店で「放置すれば日本が成り立たなくなる」と説いたという局面だ。この時、現場は撤退不要と見ていた。東電は全面撤退要請を否定している。伝言ゲームの真相はどうか▲今後の調査では事故の前と後のあらゆる局面の伝言ゲームのもつれが解きほぐされることになろう。「ジャパニーズ・スキャンダル」のそしりを受けぬ原発災害の全容解明は世界に対する日本人の責務だ。

毎日新聞　2011年9月9日　東京朝刊

08/09 Số lượng tỷ phú Trung Quốc tăng gấp đôi

Số lượng người 'siêu giàu' ở Trung Quốc đang tăng lên chóng mặt, với số tỷ phú gấp đôi chỉ trong vòng hai năm qua.

Hôm qua, Hurun Report, tập đoàn ở Thượng Hải chuyên xuất bản các ấn phẩm dành cho giới thượng lưu, công bố có 271 tỷ phú ở Trung Quốc năm 2010, tăng đáng kể so với số lượng 130 người năm 2009. Trung Quốc hiện là quốc gia có số lượng tỷ phú đứng thứ hai trên thế giới, chỉ sau Mỹ với hơn 400 người.

08/09 TIP nhận trách nhiệm tấn công Tân Cương - Trung Quốc

Thứ Năm, 08/09/2011 17:18

(NLĐO) - Đảng Hồi giáo Turkistan (TIP) vừa công bố một đoạn băng ghi hình nhận trách nhiệm các vụ cuộc tấn công gần đây tại Tân Cương, miền tây Trung Quốc, làm chết ít nhất 30 người hồi tháng 7.

Trong đoạn băng dài hơn 10 phút công bố vào cuối tháng 8 vừa qua, lãnh đạo TIP Abdul Shakoor Damla, với khuôn mặt bị che kín, nói rằng các cuộc tấn công trên là để trả thù chính phủ Trung Quốc.

 

An ninh tại Tân Cương được siết chặt sau các vụ tấn công. Ảnh: AP
 

Đoạn băng còn nêu tiểu sử tóm tắt của Memtieli Tliwaldi, nghi can đứng đằng sau các vụ tấn công hồi tháng 7 với các hình ảnh anh ta đang đấu vật với các chiến binh khác tại một trại huấn luyện của TIP.

 

Theo nhóm tình báo SITE (Mỹ), Đảng Hồi giáo Turkistan (TIP) đòi độc lập cho khu tự trị Tân Cương của Trung Quốc. Được đánh giá là nhóm hồi giáo cực đoan, TIP thành lập vào năm 1993 và có căn cứ tại Pakistan. Các chuyên gia an ninh còn cho rằng các thành viên chủ chốt của TIP đã được al-Qaeda huấn luyện. Trước đây, TIP từng đe dọa tấn công Olympics Bắc Kinh 2008.

 

Tân Cương là quê nhà của người Duy Ngô Nhĩ với đa số theo đạo Hồi. Trong vòng 2 năm qua, khu vực này xảy ra nhiều vụ bạo động khiến ít nhất 197 người chết, nguyên nhân do mâu thuẫn giữa người Duy Ngô Nhĩ bản địa và người Hán.

Hải Ngọc (Theo AP)

08/09 Displaced students want a school to call their own

Sachiko Asakuno and Mariko Sakai / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writers

Nearly six months after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, many students in Miyagi Prefecture who attended schools that were severely damaged in the disaster still have to take lessons in school facilities that are not their own.

"We are grateful for being able to use another school building. But having our own facilities is essential to providing adequate education," said the principal of a middle school that has been holding classes at another school in the prefecture. "I hope a makeshift school building for us will be built as soon as possible."

Many educational experts say that learning and teaching at other schools entail many inconveniences.

For instance, displaced students and teachers have fewer opportunities to use school facilities than regular students and teachers.

According to sources, students at a middle school they are temporarily attending are given limited use of the science room, the music room and the gym. This is because the curriculum of the host school is given priority over that of the displaced school.

The displaced students have been told not to enter areas other than those the school allows them to use to prevent trouble.

"I feel sorry for my students, because they must be feeling uncomfortable," the principal of the displaced school said.

Students of some schools have to use facilities of several different schools, forcing teachers and students to travel between them to attend events, such as club activities, student council meetings and teachers' meetings.

Miyagi Prefectural Agriculture High School, which was badly damaged by the tsunami, had used facilities of three high schools in the prefecture before its classes began at its own makeshift school building last Thursday.

Prior to this, about 240 students of the farm machinery course gathered at a meeting spot every morning and took buses to school. Because it took 90 minutes to reach their destination, the first class of the day was given en route. As the bus rides were bumpy, students had to hold their sheets and notebooks against the windows to write.

Eiya Kosai, 16, a second-year student at the school, said: "I had a hard time writing. Every time the bus went over a bump, my handwriting became crooked."

Some students on the buses also experienced motion sickness.

Attending classes at school buildings that are not their own has also negatively affected the students' academic performance.

A third-year student at the school said, "I lacked sleep and couldn't concentrate on classes well."

Before the disaster, teachers at the school had spare time to make handout materials for students and prepare for classes to make them efficient and understandable.

However, after they were displaced by the disaster, the teachers had much less prep time, as they had to travel between the school's three temporary locations.

"I wonder whether our students understood the classes enough," one of the teachers said.

Meanwhile, Watanoha Middle School in Ishinomaki in the prefecture is getting back to some semblance of normalcy after it started the second trimester at its newly built temporary school building last Thursday. Students at the school had been learning at three separate locations, one for each school year. They were finally reunited at the new building built in the playground of a primary school in the city.

Sana Takagi, 12, a first-year student whose house was destroyed in the tsunami and who has since been living at her grandfather's place, said: "I was driven to the temporary school by my grandfather every day. Now, I can go to school by bicycle."

Although the new building has thin walls and less space than the original, the school's principal, Hiroshi Abe, 57, was happy the students once again had a school to call their own.

"We were forced to learn in what was like a training camp before. Now we can finally get back to a real school life," he said.

(Sep. 8, 2011)

08/09 47 schools unable to rebuild after disaster

The Yomiuri Shimbun

Forty-seven schools that have been using other schools' facilities since the March 11 disaster still are undecided on where and how to rebuild their own facilities, according to a Yomiuri Shimbun survey.

The survey was conducted on 82 public primary, middle and high schools in 24 cities and towns in Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures that are using buildings of nearby schools after theirs were severely damaged by the Great East Japan Earthquake.

According to the survey results, 47 schools in 16 municipalities, or about 60 percent of the schools surveyed, had no plans to build temporary facilities or take other steps as of Tuesday. About 4,800 school children attend the 47 schools.

Municipalities that were struck by the March 11 tsunami are, in principle, required to relocate schools to higher ground. But they are not eligible to receive state subsidies for the cost of purchasing and preparing land for schools under the current law. Because of this, they are facing difficulty in securing relocation sites.

Education ministry officials say it is difficult to provide these schools with state subsidies for disaster restoration projects under existing law.

Calls for the prompt establishment of new legislation to address the issue may grow, observers said.

The survey found that only five of the 82 schools have committed to repair their original school facilities or relocate to new facilities as planned since before the disaster.

Another 30 schools said they had started or were planning to build temporary prefabricated facilities on other schools' grounds or athletic parks.

Under the law on government financial contribution to public schools on facility restoration from disaster damage, the government bears two-thirds of restoration costs when school facilities have been destroyed or severely damaged. But the law stipulates this applies to cases in which school facilities would be rebuilt at their original locations. The law provides no stipulation for cases in which school facilities need to be relocated.

Students using other schools' facilities have been facing various inconveniences, but municipal governments are in a quandary as there is very little public land that was not affected by the tsunami in the disaster-hit areas.

"We're giving priority to the construction of temporary housing units," said an Ishinomaki city government official in Miyagi Prefecture.

Some municipalities may consider obtaining privately owned land. But some lots not damaged by the disaster have inflated prices.

"Unless we receive state subsidies, we face enormous financial burdens," a town official of Yamadamachi, Iwate Prefecture, said, adding that the municipality has no chance to obtain private land.

An official of Minami-Sanrikucho, Miyagi Prefecture, stressed the town's dire financial situation, saying, "We absolutely lack the budget [resources] as we must restore facilities other than schools as well."

There is also a government subsidy to assist the relocation of local residents in groups from areas affected by natural disasters. However, this covers the rebuilding of housing facilities and does not cover the expenses of purchasing land or preparing it for the construction for school relocations.

An official of the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry, which has received requests for state aid from municipal governments, said the ministry has asked the Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ministry to include school relocations in the subsidy program for group relocations under its jurisdiction.

(Sep. 8, 2011)

07/09 Typhoon No. 12 caused deep-seated landslides

The Yomiuri Shimbun

This photo taken Monday shows a mud slide in Tanabe, Wakayama Prefecture.

Large mud slides in Wakayama and Nara prefectures resulting from Typhoon No. 12 are suspected of being deep-seated landslides, according to a specialist.

Unlike shallow landslides in which topsoil 0.5 meters to 2 meters deep comes loose, the bedrock beneath the topsoil also moves in deep-seated landslides, causing enormous damage.

Typhoon No. 12 brought record rainfall to the Kii Peninsula, where fragile bedrock allowed massive amounts of rainwater to permeate underground. This has sparked concerns that more deep-seated landslides could occur in the region.

Kyoji Sassa, a professor emeritus of Kyoto University, has warned the peninsula will frequently be hit with similar landslides in the future due to its geological features.

Sassa analyzed news photos following Typhoon No. 12 of a mud slide in the Fudono district of Tanabe, Wakayama Prefecture, and suspects it is a deep-seated landslide. He also believes a mountain collapse in Gojo, Nara Prefecture, could be a deep-seated landslide.

Asahiko Taira, a geologist and executive director of the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, said the Kii Peninsula is formed with Shimanto-tai strata, which are highly prone to landslides.

The strata began forming 20 million to 100 million years ago by colliding tectonic plates. In a process of repeated collisions and transformations, land mass was pushed upward and cracks dozens of meters deep were formed, which is where rainwater can accumulate.

"The deep-seated landslides were caused as rainwater infiltrated deep cracks over long periods of time," Sassa said. "Similar large-scale collapses may occur when [the strata] absorb large quantities of water."

According to a map of areas that could be hit by deep-seated landslides drawn up by the Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ministry in August last year, about 34 percent of the land in Nara Prefecture is at particularly high risk.

The map also indicates the remaining areas of the prefecture and neighboring Wakayama Prefecture are also at high risk of deep-seated landslides.

(Sep. 7, 2011)

07/09 Kan: Nuclear crisis 'man-made' / Ex-PM says poor flow of info hindered N-plant accident response

The Yomiuri Shimbun

Former Prime Minister Naoto Kan during an interview with The Yomiuri Shimbun

The ongoing crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant should be considered a "man-made disaster," and poor communication with the plant's operator hindered the initial government response, former Prime Minister Naoto Kan has told The Yomiuri Shimbun.

In an exclusive interview, Kan also said he felt "very sorry" for residents of Fukushima Prefecture who would not be able to return to their homes for a long time due to the nuclear crisis.

"There in fact were various opinions [regarding the safety of the plant] before the accident, but no well-thought-out preparations were made," he said. "In that sense, the nuclear accident should be considered a man-made disaster."

Referring to the response to the accident by the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency and the Cabinet Office's Nuclear Safety Commission, Kan said the two watchdogs had been "unable to foresee the possibility that all power sources could be lost" at the nuclear complex.

As a result, neither the agency nor the commission could deal effectively with the circumstances that arose after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami knocked out the plant's cooling systems, he said.

Kan said there also were problems with the flow of information from the plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co.

The former prime minister said he ended up calling Masao Yoshida, the head of the plant, in a bid to gauge what was actually happening.

Kan revealed that the off-site emergency response center near the plant, though supposed to serve as a front-line command center in the event of a crisis, was vacated soon after the accident.

"As a result, arrangements that had been assumed in accident simulations hardly worked at all," said Kan, who stepped down late last month.

Kan was frustrated by the lack of details TEPCO provided soon after the disaster.

"Although I instructed the utility to vent [vapor in the nuclear reactor containers], TEPCO failed to do this, and I wasn't told of the reasons for that failure," he said. "Even as I sought an explanation for this situation, I couldn't tell whose decisions I was being given. It was like a game of Chinese whispers."

Kan visited Fukushima Prefecture on Aug. 27, the day after he officially announced he would resign as prime minister. He conveyed to the prefectural governor his view that people in some radiation-affected areas might be unable to return to their homes for a long period. He also called for the Fukushima government's approval to have temporary storage facilities for radiation-tainted materials built in the prefecture.

"I felt very sorry for all the victims of the disaster, but I thought it was my responsibility as prime minister in office at the time of the March 11 disaster to speak about the worst possible scenario," he said.

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Excerpts from Kan interview

Following are excerpts from former Prime Minister Naoto Kan's interview with The Yomiuri Shimbun on the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant accident, one of the biggest challenges he faced while in office.

Question: What do you think was the biggest factor behind the nuclear crisis?

Kan: All the crisis-management arrangements that had been made prior to the accident failed to function properly.

Q: Do you wish you had responded differently to the crisis?

Kan: Nobody can be 100 percent perfect, but I believe I did what I should have done.

Q: It seemed the government and TEPCO were often one step behind developments during the crisis.

Kan: That accident was beyond our expectations, so there were no preparations to cope with it properly. It had been assumed there was no possibility the plant's power sources would be lost, so it was only natural that we were one step behind as the crisis unfolded.

Q: When did you contact the head of the Fukushima No. 1 plant, Mr. Masao Yoshida?

Kan: Whenever I needed firsthand information about the conditions at the nuclear plant and what decisions were being made there. Mr. Yoshida gave me adequate answers, but it couldn't be helped that information I obtained from TEPCO's head office was incomplete and insufficient.

Q: Was the lack of accurate information the biggest problem?

Kan: Definitely. That I could not get correct information stemmed from shortcomings in the system.

Q: Was it your idea to have Self-Defense Forces helicopters drop water into pools for storing spent nuclear fuel at the plant reactors?

Kan: That was basically done at my request. The temperature of the spent nuclear fuel pool was rising alarmingly, and the United States was also expressing concern. The SDF operation drastically changed the mood of the people involved. Everybody suddenly became very positive about tackling the crisis.

(Sep. 7, 2011)

07/09 South Korean cartoonist to promote Miyagi Prefecture

The Yomiuri Shimbun

The Miyagi prefectural government plans to invite a famous cartoonist from South Korea in December to publicize its recovery from the March 11 disaster to South Koreans.

The local government plans to have him visit different areas of the prefecture and convey what he has experienced to people in South Korea through newspaper illustrations and a Web site, it has been learned.

The prefectural government hopes his renderings of actual conditions in the prefecture will lessen South Koreans' concerns about radiation and tsunami in Japan. They plan to have him interview okami (female) innkeepers, sushi cooks and craftspeople.

The cartoonist is Huh Young Man, known for his cartoons about cooking. His representative work "Sik Gaek" became a bestseller, with more than 1 million copies sold in South Korea. Originally a newspaper series, his cartoons inspired a film and a TV series.

The prefectural government plans to invite him in mid- to late December for five days and have him visit a kokeshi (wooden doll) maker in Osaki, a sushi restaurant in Shiogama, an inn in Shiroishi and speak with people there. The government also plans to ask him to visit a rice-farming family and a cattle farmer.

Huh's cartoons are scheduled to appear in Sunday editions of JoongAng Ilbo, a major newspaper in South Korea, and on a major Internet site.

There is also a possibility that his drawings will be utilized in travel agency merchandising.

In South Korea, people are concerned about the current situation in Japan, and Japanese food has been removed from shelves at some supermarkets. The number of South Korean tourists to Miyagi Prefecture drastically decreased after the March 11 disaster.

Miyagi Gov. Yoshihiro Murai visited South Korea at the end of August and promoted Miyagi Prefecture's safety to South Korean municipalities and media.

(Sep. 7, 2011)