Fake News??

This week I read about a fictional festival depicted in a segment of the Japanese variety show Sekai no Hate Made Itte Q. The show depicts Japanese comedians traveling to foreign countries in traditional Japanese clothes and participating in festivals or competitions. Although not a news program, the show is at least in part understand as a program through which Japanese people can learn about other cultures and countries. In the disputed TV segment, Nippon Television depicts a bridge festival in Laos, where motorcycle drivers rode across narrow wooden planks over a pool of muddy water. The problem? There is no such thing as a bridge festival in Laos. The TV crew built the bridge at the edge of a festival that was celebrating local coffee. Motorbikes are rare in Laos. The television crew even payed locals to compete in the phony competition. 

Even though Sekai no Hate Made Itte Q is an entertainment show, I think that their actions are reprehensible and potentially harmful to the public. By presenting the festival as Laotian, they cultivate an ignorance about other parts of the world. One possible explanation the article cites for Nippon's actions is desperation. In response to the declining significance of television in Japan, where young people are increasingly turning toward online platforms for entertainment, the station may have felt desperate to grab the attentions of its viewers and maintain its relevancy.

I think this article also speaks to the more general issue in Japan of blurred lines between journalism and entertainment. On the one hand, I don't think this is necessarily a bad thing. By making news entertaining and accessible-- incorporating comedians and unusual segments-- television stations probably engage a higher proportion of the population in current events and are able to educate them about the global affairs. Yet, an expectation of truth must still be preserved. I think there are several shows/ comedians in the U.S. -- John Oliver comes to mind-- who successfully tiptoe the line between news and entertainment. We know they are making us laugh. We know their opinions are biased. But we also trust that the information from which they are drawing is factual. What Nippon did, I believe, crossed the line.