Media Links (last updated January, 2013)

1.Japanese media 日本のメディア

Pressnet (日本新聞協会)
This organisation exists to preserve the ethical standards of journalism in Japan and to represent media interests. Membership is open to any media organisation which follows the association's Canon of Journalism. The site contains a links page which will give you access to media organizations in Japan and to overseas media associations as well.

Japan Media Communication Center (放送番組国際交流センター).
This hosts various international online symposiums, including one on the televions reporting of the 2011 Tohoku-Pacific Ocean earthquake (in English and Japanese).
See this article from the Guardian website (dated 6 December, 2005), that criticizes the way in which the Japanese media have been reporting the issue of foreigners and crime.

Foreign journalists reporting on Japan can join the "Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan, which has a website. They have an online magazine called Number 1 Shimbun. Here is the issue that followed the 2011 Tohoku-Japan earthquake.

For criticism of the kisha kurabu system, see "Tight-lipped Tepco lays bare exclusivity of press clubs" (May 3, 2011) from the Japan Times.

2. UK mediaイギリスのメディア　
Media UK will give you links to British newspapers, magazines and radio and television channels, For reporting of controversial ethical issues related to Japan, see the links on section 3 of this page. (This may need updating...)

My favorite UK-based media sites are:

The online news page of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), the UK equivalent of NHK.This site has good global coverage of current affairs, including the developing world. You can also lwatch video clips. (Sports fans will like the sports coverage.) News stories are always accompanied by related links, and the search engine is also easy to use. (Note this article about online newspapers.)
The BBC World Service, a branch of the BBC is primarily for radio listeners outside the UK.(For a history of the BBC World Service click here.)
Guardian Unlimited, the online edition of the Guardian, a left-of-centre UK newspaper
This is well designed, and has good sections on the media, including advertising (with videos of particularly interesting new commercials).
Here is a Guardian article (19 September, 2008) about an aspect of Aso Taro that is ignored by the mainstream Japanese media. It has a page of links to articles related to the Tohoku-Pacific earthquake and tsunami.

The Financial Times is (of course) a good source of economic news. See this section on the global food crisis, and this timeline of major acquisitions (purchases of one company by another company). (Note that the main link I have given here is to its home page for Asia. You have to register and can only see a limited number of articles per month unless you pay.)

3. The World Radio Network will allow you to listen to radio broadcasts from a variety of regions throughout the world (mainly in English). You can practise your listening skills and also see how the news of the day is selected and interpreted in different parts of the world.

4. Advertising
The History of Advertising Trust houses the Arrows archive, containing all the TV commercials that have been entered for the British Television Advertising Awards since 1977, and a gallery of British advertisements organized according to themes.
If you click here, you will find a 1977 British commercial for cornflakes at the top left-hand corner. This features two Japanese girls!

Does advertising have any effect? See this article about alcohol advertising and young drinkers from the BBC.

(For U.S TV commercials see Classic TV Ads.)

For the regulation of advertising in the UK, see the website of the Advertising Standards Authority

For the marketing methods of one company (Johnson & Johnson), see this page and this page, about the marketing of sanitary products for women, and this page about the marketing of Listerine.
(On the subject of the marketing of women's sanitary products, Kotex (Kimberley-Clark Worldwide Inc.) has just (spring 2010) started a campaign that criticises previous marketing campaigns for their unrealistic approach. For comments, see the New York Times (15 March 2010) and Slate (16 March 2010). Slate may automatically switch you to its current top page. In that case, hit the back button.)

5. Cartoons
For information on (and examples of) early English cartoons:
William Hogarth (1697-1764) , from the website of the National Gallery, London
James Gillray (1757-1815) , from the websites of the National Portrait Gallery and the Tate Gallery, London
Galleries section of the website of Punch (1841-2002) , a famous British magazine of 'satire and humour'
For an archive of more recent British cartoons, see the British Cartoon Archive.

(For an illustrated history of American comics, see the History of Comics page of the Comic Art and Graffix Gallery. For more cartoon and comic websites, see the Fun links page.

6. Other media sources? Try searching the Yahoo News and Media Directory.

7. For freedom of the media, see Reporters without borders and Index on Censorship

The Internet and privacy. See what happened to a female high-school athlete in the U.S. (from the Washington Post, 28 May, 2007). (For comments, see this page from a community weblog called SportsFilter.

8. Alternative views　

a) Three sites which give the news through 'non-Western' eyes:

The English-language website of the famous independent Arabic broadcasting station, Aljazeera
The online edition of The Times of India. (An advertisement may appear first...)
Mail & Guardian online, 'Africa's first online newspaper'

b) Media Literacy
Media Smarts is a Canadian site for teaching digital and media literacy.

9. Photojournalism (the role of photographs in reporting news)
Click here for the first in a series on the BBC website featuring photojournalists talking about famous pictures they have taken. (The last photograph in the series is the famous image of one man standing in front of a tank at the time of the protests in Tiananmen (天安門) Square.) The journalists explain how they took the photographs but also discuss the problems they encounter. This include censorship and the conflict between the need to respect the rights of disaster victims to privacy and the duty of the journalist to inform the public.
If you are interested in this topic, you should also look at the website of World Press Photo, an organisation that promotes high standards in photojournalism and opposes censorship. Among the photographs that have won its annual award are several by Japanese photographers, both of events in Japan and of events overseas.

10. The History of the Media
The Television History website (mainly the US).
The History of the BBC.

The Internet
Click here to see what Google Internet searches tell us about the interest of the world's digital users in previous years.

11. Also of interest

World Association of Newspapers and Newspaper Publishers

Videos related to media studies:
1. Annenberg media has an interesting series called News Writing that features many interviews with U.S. journalists. The tenth video in a series on Ethics in America is on "Politics, Privacy, and the Press ", while the second video in the sequel, Ethics in America II, looks at "National Security & the News".
Note: You may have to register in order to watch the videos online. (Click "other" in the column for "state" since you are not any state of the U.S. If you cannot work out how to register, please contact me. It is really worth the effort!)

2. YouTube has various short videos about Asian Americans and media stereotypes of Asian Americans.
For a straightforward introduction to Asian Americans, see What does it mean to be Asian American?; for a longer video about young people's stereotypes of Asian men, see Being an Asian in America. (This has some clips of American films that include stereotypical protrayals of Asian men.) In "Asians Rock" - What's Your Story?, various Asian Americans talk about their identity and the stereotypes that they encounter.