Radio broadcasting was launched in Japan in 1926 when Japan Broadcasting Corporation (Nippon Hōsō Kyōkai, NHK) was established. Television broadcasting was started in 1953. Today, the broadcaster runs eight television channels and three radio networks. The broadcaster also operates an international broadcasting service, known as NHK World-Japan.
Media assets
Television: NHK General TV, NHK Educational TV, NHK BS1, NHK BS Premium, NHK BS4K, NHK BS8K; NHK World-Japan
Radio: NHK Radio 1, NHK Radio 2, NHK FM
State Media Matrix Typology: Captured Public/State-Managed (CaPu)
Ownership and governance
Broadcasting was completely under the control of the government until WWII, but legal changes introduced in 1950 prohibited government’s interference in programming. The Broadcasting Law of 1950 established NHK as a public broadcaster whose Board of Governors (consisting of 12 members) is appointed by the Prime Minister and endorsed by both houses of Parliament.
The board’s main tasks and powers include the appointment of the NHK’s president as well as the approval of the broadcaster’s strategy and policies, among them being its budget and programming plans. These plans are submitted to the Minister of Posts and Telecommunications for review and then passed onto the government and parliament for approval.
The corporation’s Executive Board is NHK’s management, consisting of NHK’s president, an executive vice-president and a team of seven to 10 directors, all appointed by the corporation’s president.
The Audit Committee has three or more members appointed by the Board of Governors and its task is to audit the business conducted by the governors and the Executive Board. It reports to the Board of Governors.
Source of funding and budget
NHK is entirely funded through license fee, a tax paid by all households and businesses in Japan. This funding system is believed to ensure the financial independence of the broadcaster as nobody can interfere with the funding of the station (for example, by approving or disapproving allocation of funding). The government only allocates some funding to NHK to support its foreign radio broadcasting service, but in the overall NHK budget, that amount is marginal.
In 2021, NHK had an operational budget of JPY 690bn (US$ 6.3bn), with the license fee accounting for over 97% of that. The following year, NHK had a budget of JPY 689m, some JPY 670m of that being generated through license fees.
Editorial independence
NHK has had a long tradition of editorial independence as the government, as a rule, didn’t interfere in its editorial affairs. However, after the nationalist leader Shinzo Abe became Prime Minister in 2012, journalists at NHK had increasingly complained about hostility from the government. Examples of journalists dismissed from their job or the practice of not airing sensitive reports have become more common at NHK in recent years. In a recent development, NHK’s board of directors has reportedly given a warning to NHK’s President after a company complained about the station’s critical coverage. Critics argued that these actions amounted to “interference with programming,” which is forbidden by the Broadcasting Law.But even after Abe’s resignation in August 2020, the criticism about the editorial independence on NHK continued. The NHK board was slammed in June 2021 for not releasing minutes about controversial decisions they had made before.
There is no independent assessment/oversight mechanism that would validate the independence of NHK. In fact, the regulatory oversight of NHK’s independence comes from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications with the minister having the power to suspend the operations of any broadcaster that breaches the Broadcast Law.
The Broadcasting Law forbids the NHK Board of Governors to interfere in any way with the editorial decision-making at the station. Although that has been complied with in practice for many years, after Shinzo Abe came to power in 2012, NHK has seen numerous attacks on its editorial independence. Even after Abe left his position in August 2020, NHK’s Board of Governors continued to be criticized for interfering with the station’s editorial agenda. The re-election of Shunzo Morishita, NHK’s board head, in March 2021 was sharply criticized as Morishita was known for interfering with the editorial coverage of the broadcaster. Often, independent journalists refer to the editorial interference as “illegal” as it is against the legal provisions guaranteeing NHK’s editorial autonomy.
There is no independent assessment/oversight mechanism that would validate NHK’s editorial independence. In fact, the regulatory oversight of NHK’s independence comes from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, the minister having the power to suspend the operations of any broadcaster that breaches the Broadcast Law.
October 2023