联合国官员 安倍政府威胁日本新闻自由

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.

一名联合国官员发表了一份措辞严厉的报告，称日本首相安倍晋三(Shinzo Abe)及其政府正严重威胁日本的新闻自由。

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.

联合国言论自由权问题特别报告员大卫·凯伊(David Kaye)在进行为期一周的实地调查后指出，日本媒体独立性的发展趋势“十分令人担忧”，他敦促日本改革新闻出版法。

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.

凯伊的言论是国际上首次正式承认这样的担心，即安倍正系统化地削弱亚洲最富裕民主国家的新闻自由，寻求压制批评的声音。

“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.

凯伊在一个记者会上表示：“我遇到的大量记者都感受到来自政府、且得到管理层支持的巨大压力，要求他们的报道符合官方政策导向。”

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

他说：“许多记者声称，由于受到主要政治人士的间接压力，他们被靠边站，或被禁声。”

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

凯伊原定去年12月访问日本，但因日本政府表示无法安排会晤而取消。

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.

虽然联合国特别报告员没有任何正式权力，但对日本政府来说，遭到这样的点名批评还是一件非常尴尬的事情。凯伊是加州大学欧文分校(University of California, Irvine)的法学教授。

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.

自从两年前安倍任命其盟友籾井胜人(Katsuto Momii)出任公共广播电视机构——日本放送协会(NHK)会长以来，日本的新闻自由日益受到关注。日本总务大臣高市早苗(Sanae Takaichi)扬言她可能关闭存在“政治偏见”的电视台，还有一批以提问尖锐闻名的记者离开了电视台岗位。

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.

凯伊对高市早苗予以谴责，表示她的观点没有法律依据，而且她的言论可以被合理解读为威胁要限制媒体。

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.

凯伊呼吁日本政府撤销由它决定哪些内容公平、哪些内容有偏见的法规条款，从而“退出媒体监管事务”。

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.

不过，凯伊也对日本媒体提出批评，表示日本媒体如果能齐心协力，保持自身独立性，并实行自律，是可以轻松抵制政府影响力的。

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.

凯伊批评的对象还包括日本的“记者俱乐部”。日本每个政府部门内都有这种封闭的记者团体，他们拥有访问官员和获取信息的特权，但代价是要对其报道进行自我审查。

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.

凯伊称，他曾听说有报纸的第一手报道被延迟，有的文章被取消出版，还有记者因写文章批评政府被降职或调离工作岗位。

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”.

凯伊没有证实关于政府压力迫使部分广播员离职的指控，但他表示“在一个员工通常留在公司几十年的行业，如此大量的离职令人惊愕”。

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.

凯伊批评日本政府新推出的保密法“过度保护信息不被披露”，并表示教科书批准机构不应受到政治干预。