Newspapers have flavors

Okumura Jun takes a long, hard look at bias in Japanese newspaper reporting.

For those who might say, "So what? media sources always have bias!" I would retort, "Yes, but in their presentations of 'Japanese opinion' foreign wire services and news reporters rarely include adjectives and adjectival phrases that could help their readers comprehend the bias inherent in the products of particular Japanese news outlets. The Asahi Shimbun is not always identified as the "liberal, LDP-doubting Asahi" nor either is the Yomiuri Shimbun always identified as "the often shamelessly pro-government, baseball team flogging Yomiuri".