It has been argued that the end of the Cold War and globalisation has made Western-style liberal press system as a universal model and no nation can free itself from the powerful influence of its universal value. Discuss this argument in the Asian context

Running Head : MASS MEDIA IN JAPAN

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Mass Media in Japan

Introduction . Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newss , or newss without a government , I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter , so spoke Thomas Jefferson in l787 before becoming third President of the United States (cited in Message from the ' These words of Thomas Jefferson in today 's information age are more than significant in a democratic society . The keystone of American

democracy , enshrined in the First Amendment of the U .S . Constitution is free and independent media ( Message from the

It has been argued that the end of the Cold War and globalization has made Western-style liberal press system as a universal model and no nation can free itself from the powerful influence of its universal value . It is important however to consider that press freedom is a creature of politics . It has no relation whatsoever to the so-called sets of Asian values which are founded on Asia 's major philosophies and religion , neither as a standard of measure for comparison . Corrupting the role of the mass media as a Western-liberal value will not inevitably bring stability to nations in the end . The Universal Declaration of Human Rights provides the framework for boosting a socially creditworthy press in Asia and the world . It is important that the media system of a country is more consistent with universal human values . Press freedom is synonymous with democracy . Where there is press freedom , there is democracy

After the cold war and the so-called democratization of Russia , some Russians view the limited experiment with American-style democracy as a failure . It is explained as the failure of the Western-style freedom of the press because of the oligarchs buying off the press to accomplish their political aims and protect their own interests . One Kremlin official , who predicted that freedom of the press will soon end , said it wasn 't really free at all (Lewis , D , 2005

Gunaratne [1993] wrote : `Democracy requires the press to point fingers and hurl

accusations through thorough investigation . In the process , errors will inevitably occur (p . 180 . Gunaratne [1978] argued that `the democratic Third World governments could promote developmental journalism better through fostering a socially responsible independent press rather than through media subservience ' [p . 6] (Cited in Gunaratne , S .A , 2001

Discussion /Arguments

Japan has a political system that is contrary to its Buddhist-Shinto philosophy and religion . Along with other Asian countries , such as Taiwan , South Korea , and Thailand , Japan has a more liberal press than in the rest of Asia (Guranatne , 2001 . Censorship issues that incrust most of Asia is not Japan 's most important concern , instead it is more occupied on news maintenance system and broadcasting digitalization (Lyman , R .B

Japan , one of the few developed nations in Asia and the world 's second largest economy is considered a liberal democracy with a constitutional monarchy type of government and citizens maintain all their civil...