Reminder: MJHW (Online Meeting) on "In-House Training" for Japanese Journalists - Friday, August 21st

Please join us for the next meeting of the Modern Japan History Workshop on Friday, August 21st at 6 pm JST.  Our presenter this month will be Tiantian Diao (University of Hong Kong), who will present her work on "in-house training" for Japanese journalists (details below).

This month’s session will be held online through ZOOM, and can be accessed using the following sign-in information:

Meeting link: https://zoom.us/j/91379684324

The password for the meeting will be posted at the top of the MJHW website from August 17th onwards.

The workshop is open to all, and no prior registration is required.

Please direct any questions to Joelle Tapas at tapas@fas.harvard.edu.  We hope to see you there!
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Retrieving the Historical Roots of Japanese Newspapers' "in-house training" for Journalists

Tiantian Diao, University of Hong Kong

This study explores the historical origins of Japanese newspapers’ “in-house training” for their journalists (kisha no shanai kyoiku). That independent and high-quality journalism education was crucial for ensuring the media’s performance in serving public interests has been a consensus among media researchers. Despite fierce academic criticism against Japanese newspapers’ current “in-house training” system for journalists, the historical roots of such a system of educating the journalists, and the failure of the independent practical journalism education programs, have not been fully studied. This study addresses the peculiar social-political circumstances, which favored Japanese newspapers' “in-house training” for journalists, but hampered standalone journalism training programs outside of the newspaper companies, between the Meiji Era until the American occupation of Japan after World War II. This study utilizes the primary sources of Japanese journalists’ career memoirs, and the career guidance published for Japanese youngsters throughout the Meiji until the Taisho Era. It also integrates American newspaper men’s observations of Japanese newspapers’ flourishing in the early twentieth century. This study locates itself in both Japanese studies and journalism history research.

NOTE: This session will be recorded and subsequently distributed at the speaker's discretion. If you are interested in the video of the session, please contact the speaker directly at dttian23@connect.hku.hk.