The term generally refers to weekly magazines published in Japan, including politically provocative weekly tabloid newspapers. As noted by Watanabe and Gamble in the '' Japan Media Review'' and in their book ''A Public Betrayed'', the genre is "often described as bizarre blends of various types of U.S. magazines, such as ''

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly news magazine based in New York City. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely distributed during the 20th century and has had many notable editors-in-chief. It is currently co-owned by Dev P ...

'', ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

'', ''

People The term "the people" refers to the public or Common people, common mass of people of a polity. As such it is a concept of human rights law, international law as well as constitutional law, particularly used for claims of popular sovereignty. I ...

'', '' Penthouse'', and ''

The National Enquirer The ''National Enquirer'' is an American tabloid newspaper. Founded in 1926, the newspaper has undergone a number of changes over the years. The ''National Enquirer'' openly acknowledges that it pays sources for tips ( checkbook journalism), a ...

''. In Japan, weekly magazines have been a source of anti-semitic articles, including '' Shukan Bunshun'', ''Marco Polo'', and '' Shukan Shincho'', which have repeatedly published articles

denying the Holocaust ''Denying the Holocaust: The Growing Assault on Truth and Memory'' is a 1993 book by the historian Deborah Lipstadt, in which the author discusses the Holocaust denial movement. Lipstadt named British writer David Irving as a Holocaust denier, ...

. Such magazines have also been hotbeds of articles that disparage neighboring countries, especially

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

, as well as invasions of privacy towards celebrities; for instance, ''Bubka'' (which has since transitioned into a general

Japanese idol An is a type of entertainer marketed for image, attractiveness, and personality in Japanese popular culture, Japanese pop culture. Idols are primarily singers with training in other performance skills such as acting, dancing, and modeling. Idol ...

magazine) was involved in a lawsuit for their 2002 publication of unauthorized childhood photos of several female idols. ''Shukan Shincho'' was ordered by the

Supreme Court of Japan The , located in Hayabusachō, Chiyoda, Tokyo, is the highest court in Japan. It has ultimate judicial authority to interpret the Japanese constitution and decide questions of national law. It has the power of judicial review, which allows it ...

to pay damages to a

Soka Gakkai is a Japanese new religions, Japanese new religion led by Minoru Harada since December 2023 based on the teachings of the 13th-century Buddhist priest Nichiren. It claims the largest membership among Nichiren Buddhism, Nichiren Buddhist group ...

member for publishing an unsubstantiated allegation of murder, and has been criticized for sensationalistic stories regarding a disputed Paleolithic settlement site in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. The magazine has also been rebuked for publishing the names and photographs of minors who have been accused of criminal acts, even before their trials began. Women-oriented magazines have also been known to publish critical or speculatory articles pertaining to the Japanese imperial family, in defiance of the

chrysanthemum taboo The is the Japanese social taboo against discussion or criticism of the Emperor of Japan and his family, especially Emperor Hirohito (1901–1989). The taboo also extended to discussion of the Emperor's declining health. The term came into use i ...

Reliability

Alongside a small percentage of solid investigative reporting, tabloids publish celebrity stories constructed from anonymously obtained "leaks" to fill their pages. The habit of publishing information that is already known but written in deliberately emphatic tones to make it appear as sensational news is also common. Variants of sensationalism are interviewing neighbors and acquaintances of the person concerned and reconstructing his entire family history by deliberately emphasizing some details and leaving out others to obtain the most sensationalistic portrait possible of the protagonist of the story, or republishing known facts by having them commented on by presumed experts capable of distorting completely the episode they are talking about. Finally, among the methods used to collect material is to publish hearsay, rumors and other unreliable sources as news. What makes it particularly difficult for readers to navigate the ''shūkanshi'' articles is that investigative articles of considerable quality are accompanied by articles that are at least questionable, with the consequence that the reader struggles to understand how much credit each article deserves. ''Shūkan Bunshun'' has been characterized as relying on posts from 2channel/5channel, an anonymous bulletin board, in their reporting.

References

External links

''Shukan Shincho''

Review
for ''A Public Betrayed'' in '' Japan Media Review'' Political mass media in Japan {{Japan-culture-stub

Reliability

See also

Publications

Other

References

External links