聯合國官員 安倍政府威脅日本新聞自由

Press freedom in Japan is under serious threat from Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his government, according to a scathing report by a UN official.

一名聯合國官員發表了一份措辭嚴厲的報告，稱日本首相安倍晉三(Shinzo Abe)及其政府正嚴重威脅日本的新聞自由。

After a week-long fact-finding mission, David Kaye, special rapporteur on freedom of expression, pointed to “really worrying” trends on media independence in Japan and urged reform of the country’s broadcasting law.

聯合國言論自由權問題特別報告員大衛·凱伊(David Kaye)在進行爲期一週的實地調查後指出，日本媒體獨立性的發展趨勢“十分令人擔憂”，他敦促日本改革新聞出版法。

Mr Kaye’s comments are the first official recognition of fears that Mr Abe is systematically weakening freedom of the press in Asia’s richest democracy and seeking to silence critical voices.

凱伊的言論是國際上首次正式承認這樣的擔心，即安倍正系統化地削弱亞洲最富裕民主國家的新聞自由，尋求壓制批評的聲音。

“A significant number of journalists I met feel intense pressure from the government, abetted by management, to conform their reporting to official policy preferences,” Mr Kaye said at a press conference.

凱伊在一個記者會上表示：“我遇到的大量記者都感受到來自政府、且得到管理層支持的巨大壓力，要求他們的報道符合官方政策導向。”

“Many claimed to have been sidelined or silenced following indirect pressure from leading politicians,” he said.

他說：“許多記者聲稱，由於受到主要政治人士的間接壓力，他們被靠邊站，或被禁聲。”

Mr Kaye came to Japan after his original visit, scheduled for last December, was cancelled when the government said it could not arrange meetings.

凱伊原定去年12月訪問日本，但因日本政府表示無法安排會晤而取消。

While a UN special rapporteur has no formal powers, finding itself singled out for criticism is highly embarrassing for Japan’s government. Mr Kaye is a law professor at the University of California, Irvine.

雖然聯合國特別報告員沒有任何正式權力，但對日本政府來說，遭到這樣的點名批評還是一件非常尷尬的事情。凱伊是加州大學歐文分校(University of California, Irvine)的法學教授。

Concerns about press freedom in Japan have been growing after Mr Abe appointed Katsuto Momii, an ally, two years ago as chair of public broadcaster NHK; communications minister Sanae Takaichi said she could shut down “politically biased” broadcasters; and a series of journalists known for asking tough questions left their television jobs.

自從兩年前安倍任命其盟友籾井勝人(Katsuto Momii)出任公共廣播電視機構——日本放送協會(NHK)會長以來，日本的新聞自由日益受到關注。日本總務大臣高市早苗(Sanae Takaichi)揚言她可能關閉存在“政治偏見”的電視臺，還有一批以提問尖銳聞名的記者離開了電視臺崗位。

Mr Kaye took Ms Takaichi to task, saying her view was not dictated by the law itself, and that her comments had reasonably been perceived as a threat to restrict the media.

凱伊對高市早苗予以譴責，表示她的觀點沒有法律依據，而且她的言論可以被合理解讀爲威脅要限制媒體。

He called for the government to “get itself out of the media-regulation business” by repealing the clause that allows it to determine what is fair and what is biased.

凱伊呼籲日本政府撤銷由它決定哪些內容公平、哪些內容有偏見的法規條款，從而“退出媒體監管事務”。

However, Mr Kaye also criticised the country’s media, saying it would easily be able to resist government influence if it stuck together, preserved its own independence and practised self-regulation.

不過，凱伊也對日本媒體提出批評，表示日本媒體如果能齊心協力，保持自身獨立性，並實行自律，是可以輕鬆抵制政府影響力的。

Among Mr Kaye’s other targets for criticism were Japan’s kisha clubs — closed groups of reporters that sit inside every government ministry, gaining privileged access to officials and information but self-censoring their reporting in return.

凱伊批評的對象還包括日本的“記者俱樂部”。日本每個政府部門內都有這種封閉的記者團體，他們擁有訪問官員和獲取信息的特權，但代價是要對其報道進行自我審查。

Mr Kaye said he had heard first-hand reports of newspapers delaying or cancelling the publication of articles and demoting or transferring reporters who wrote articles critical of the government.

凱伊稱，他曾聽說有報紙的第一手報道被延遲，有的文章被取消出版，還有記者因寫文章批評政府被降職或調離工作崗位。

He did not confirm allegations of government pressure forcing out some broadcasters but said the cluster of departures was “surprising in an industry in which employees stay with companies for decades”.

凱伊沒有證實關於政府壓力迫使部分廣播員離職的指控，但他表示“在一個員工通常留在公司幾十年的行業，如此大量的離職令人驚愕”。

Mr Kaye criticised Japan’s new official secrets act as going “further than necessary in protecting information from disclosure”, and said a body that approves school textbooks should be insulated from political interference.

凱伊批評日本政府新推出的保密法“過度保護信息不被披露”，並表示教科書批准機構不應受到政治干預。