This paper discusses the idea that the industry can have a differentiator of program quality by encouraging the activities of the Broadcasting Ethics ＆ Program Improvement Organization （BPO） in Japan. The BPO, a wo...This paper discusses the idea that the industry can have a differentiator of program quality by encouraging the activities of the Broadcasting Ethics ＆ Program Improvement Organization （BPO） in Japan. The BPO, a worldwide independent organization, has a mission of a breakwater against state power, and thus can be regarded as a kind of media accountability system, as proposed by Claude-Jean Bertrand. We review some controversial affairs in the TV industry and discuss BPO＇s activities aimed preventing ＂yellow journalism＂ and improving the quality of programming. High-quality content may be a differentiator for viewers faced with a choice of media, and thus, we focus on BPO and its role as a differentiator of the Japanese TV industry among the other, especially, Internet media. We also propose four ideas in response of critiques of BPO. Those are to strengthen transparency of governance of BPO, to improve the conformity of the TV industry to BPO＇s assessments of it, to establish a new committee to examine the whole concept of journalism, and to introduce a new certification institution to guarantee quality.展开更多
文摘This paper discusses the idea that the industry can have a differentiator of program quality by encouraging the activities of the Broadcasting Ethics ＆ Program Improvement Organization （BPO） in Japan. The BPO, a worldwide independent organization, has a mission of a breakwater against state power, and thus can be regarded as a kind of media accountability system, as proposed by Claude-Jean Bertrand. We review some controversial affairs in the TV industry and discuss BPO＇s activities aimed preventing ＂yellow journalism＂ and improving the quality of programming. High-quality content may be a differentiator for viewers faced with a choice of media, and thus, we focus on BPO and its role as a differentiator of the Japanese TV industry among the other, especially, Internet media. We also propose four ideas in response of critiques of BPO. Those are to strengthen transparency of governance of BPO, to improve the conformity of the TV industry to BPO＇s assessments of it, to establish a new committee to examine the whole concept of journalism, and to introduce a new certification institution to guarantee quality.
