PMC Seminar: Okinawa’s media response to US military presence

OKINAWA MEDIA AND THE MILITARY
The US military presence in Okinawa has been at the center of Okinawa’s politics, its relations with the central government in Tokyo and the US-Japan relations since 1945. The US bases and facilities occupy 20 percent of the island of Okinawa, accounting for 71 percent of the total US military presence in Japan. This has contributed to a strong local pacific movement supported by Okinawa’s local media which have kept a critical coverage against the Japanese government and the US bases. Amid reoccurring incidents involving US military personnel, accidents and the most recent developments around the relocation of Futenma Base, there are complaints about oppression of freedom of expression, limited public access to information and mainland Japanese media’s bias towards Okinawa. The two local newspapers, Ryukyu Shimpo and The Okinawa Times, have made it their mission to address these issues that are rarely covered in mainstream Japanese media. Dr Evangelia Papoutsaki will talk about the strong anti-base editorial stance of the Okinawan newspapers while providing a wider historical and current context of their reporting.

Who:  Dr Evangelia Papoutsaki
Associate Professor
Communication Studies, Unitec Institute of Technology
Auckland, New Zealand

When: Wednesday, 19 September 2018, 4.30-6pm 

Where: WG703 , Sir Paul Reeves Building, Auckland University of Technology
City Campus 

Contact: Sylvia.Frain@aut.ac.nz

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Report by Pacific Media Centre ]]>