David Takes on Goliath in Japan The Yomiuri Shimbun is a media giant boasting a circulation of ten million. This Goliath has launched an attack against a group of whistleblowers and a small publisher with a staff of only five people. But this handful of small Davids are standing their ground. On November 11, 2011, former Yomiuri Giants representative director and general manager Hidetoshi Kiyotake held a press conference in which he accused Giants chairman Tsuneo Watanabe, who is also chairman and editor in chief of The Yomiuri Shimbun Holdings, of serious violations of his corporate compliance obligations. Not only was Kiyotake fired for his remarks, but he is also being sued for 100 million yen in damages. Kiyotake, however, is energetically fighting back. Nanatsumori Shokan Inc. is a small company with a staff of five that publishes books advocating the abandonment of nuclear power such as Takagi Jinzaburo Chosaku-shu (The Jinzaburo Takagi Anthology) (Takagi was awarded the Right Livelihood Award in 1996), Genshiryoku Shimin Nenkan (Nuclear Power: Citizens Yearbook), and Shizen Enerugi Hakusho (Renewables Japan Status Report), and it has gained much attention in the period following the 3.11 disaster. Last year, we launched Non-Fiction Series: Ningen (Human Beings) in order to republish valuable works of non-fiction and bring attention to the issues that they address. Under the direction of editorial supervisor and commentator Makoto Sataka, we have already released six books in this series. Nanatsumori Shokan Inc. had planned to add Kaicho Wa Naze Jisatsu Shitaka: Kinyu Fuhai Jubaku No Kensho (Why Did the CEO Kill Himself? The Spell of Financial Corruption), published by Shinchosha in 1998 and by Shincho Bunko in 2000, to the series and had begun negotiating with The Yomiuri Shimbun, the author of the book, in December 2010. This book, to which Kiyotake made a significant contribution as one of its leading reporters, is a powerful work of non-fiction that offers an exhaustive investigation into major financial scandals that rocked Japan in the late 1990s. Negotiations with The Yomiuri Shimbun initially proceeded smoothly, and an agreement was reached to credit “The Yomiuri Shimbun City News Department Kiyotake Group” with authorship. The publishing contract was signed on May 9, 2011 based on the negotiations with the deputy director of The Yomiuri Shimbun City News Department (at the time), who had also contributed to this book as a reporter, and following discussions with The Yomiuri Shimbun Legal Department. Half a year after the contract had been signed, and after Kiyotake had held the press conference mentioned above, The Yomiuri Shimbun informed Nanatsumori Shokan that it “wishe(d) to terminate the publishing contract and would provide financial compensation.” Nanatsumori Shokan responded to The Yomiuri Shimbun, asking the corporation to understand the larger “purpose of the Non-Fiction Series: Ningen (Human Beings) in republishing valuable works of scholarship.” Negotiations between our representatives failed to reach agreement, and The Yomiuri Shimbun filed a Petition to Render a Publishing Contract Null and Void with the Tokyo District Court. This took place on April 11, 2012. The corporation claims that, “At The Yomiuri Shimbun, publishing contracts are customarily agreed to and approved by the bureau chief, and these procedures were not followed in this case. This contract was signed by the deputy director of The Yomiuri Shimbun City News Department, who did not have the authority to do so, and the contract is therefore null and void.” Not only does The Yomiuri Shimbun disregard the entire process that led to the contract being signed, but the corporation persists in misrepresenting what amounts to nothing more than in-house practices as generally accepted principles. We believe that the Yomiuri Shimbun was unable to file an injunction against the publication because the corporation knew that it did not have appropriate background to support the claim. By taking a small publisher like Nanatsumori Shokan Inc. to court, The Yomiuri Shimbun has effectively obstructed the publication of this book. This Goliath in the media industry is insisting on wasting a great deal of time and money on litigation in a strong-arm tactic to force the outcome it desires. As reporters, we value social justice above all, and we must not forget that freedom of speech and expression exists precisely for the cause of social justice. How vast are the profits that Goliath corporations have snatched up over the past several decades? How many people have fallen into poverty meanwhile? It is journalists who take on the role of investigating these injustices in our society. Kiyotake has said that he will never forget the voices of the employees at the companies he investigated for this book who stood up against the executives in charge, declaring, “What they’re doing is wrong!” We believe that it is important for a small David of a publisher to stand up against a Goliath like The Yomiuri Shimbun, and to declare openly and clearly that what’s wrong is wrong. We must stand up in order to right these wrongs. We may be accused of youthful naïveté, but we are proud to stand with the purity of these principles. How are the Davids faring against the Goliaths in your country? Copyright © NANATSUMORI SHOKAN INC. All Right Reserved
Posted on: Wed, 24 Jul 2013 05:12:47 +0000