Tight-lipped Tepco lays bare exclusivity of press clubs

Source: Japan Times

It was a shocking revelation for a majority of the people in Japan, but maybe not so for major media organizations.

Tsunehisa Katsumata, chairman of Tokyo Electric Power Co., admitted in a news conference on March 30 that on the 11th, the day the twin disasters hit the Tohoku region and crippled Tepco's Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, he was traveling to Beijing with retired Japanese journalists, expenses for which were partially paid by the utility.

"We probably paid more than our share" of the travel fee, Katsumata said.

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The incident laid bare the oft-assumed cozy relationship between Tepco and major Japanese media organizations — members of the exclusive "kisha" (press) club that critics claim are preventing reporters from asking the utility tough questions about the nuclear accident. Similar complicity has long been assumed at other press clubs attached to the nation's various bureaucratic bodies.

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Read more: http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20110503f1.html

WOW!

yes if people think our press has a cozy relationship... nope, we don't... and we'd better not take lessons.

So the fact that there were some ahem hard questions asked early on and then they stopped was not surprising. Actually the hard balls were.

http://www.washingtonsblog.com/ is also a good place for more info.