By Kazuki Nakata

Needless to say, newspapers carry the latest news and information. But have you ever noticed the advertisements inserted in it? We sometimes find advertisements that I doubt are proper to insert.

The newspaper code of ethics states, "All the newspaper personnel involved in editing, production, advertising and sales have to defend the freedom of speech and expression, and at the same time they have to monitor themselves having the ability to discharge their duties and to build a relationship of trust with readers."

It is still ambiguous in how far freedom of speech and expression should be allowed. However, dignity and moderation are described like this: "Newspapers must carry out their public and cultural obligations and should be able to be read by anybody at anytime and anywhere. It must uphold dignity in phrases and expressions in both articles and advertisements."

So, the code of ethics as defined here suggests a limit to the freedom of expression. I checked the newspaper advertisements of a weekly magazine against this code. Recently, the sales of weekly magazines are decreasing. Therefore, some weekly magazines changed their format by decreasing the use of risque photos and explicit expressions. On the other hand, weekly photo magazines such as Friday and Flash have not changed their formats.

Do such advertisements lower a newspaper's standard of dignity? Everyone can see newspaper advertisements, and even children may look at advertisements of naked women. Parents must feel upset when they see that. However, such advertisements are inserted in national mainstream newspapers in Japan every week. Doesn't this lower the newspapers standard of dignity? In addition, doesn't it violate the newspaper's code of ethics? They disregard the newspaper Advertisement Publication Code 7:3, which says they must never run "explicit and obscene expressions about sex" in their paper.

I interviewed teachers from the United States, Canada, and Britain in order to compare foreign newspapers to Japanese newspapers. It is said that such vulgar advertisements do not appear in typical American daily newspapers such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune, and so on. Moreover, the American teacher said that he was surprised when he first saw Japanese newspaper advertisements. Canadian newspapers also have the same tendency as U.S. papers, and there are no such advertisements in popular newspapers like The Globe and Mail. However, British newspapers are different in contrast to other countries.

The newspapers in Britain are mostly gossip tabloids and it is said that their sales are three times that of mainstream newspapers. The Sun is well-known for running scandals about the Royal Family in it. Since there are also many advertisements with explicit pictures of girls on the third page every day, the term "page three girl" was coined.

However, it is common for such advertisements and articles to appear in British newspapers and there is no regard that children may be reading them. Furthermore, quality newspapers such as The Guardian are being read by more middle and upper class people after it changed to a tabloid format. It is impossible to distinguish the middle and the upper class from the labor class when it comes to reading tabloids.

Another big problem is a fear of whether the quality of the news also falls off when changing to a tabloid format. However, although colored photos increased in number in The Guardian, no big change in the contents has occurred. In this way, quality newspapers are maintaining their standard of dignity. Therefore, we can see each country tries to retain its dignity in its own way.

One serious problem in Japan is that as the Internet has become more popular, fewer and fewer young people read newspapers. It is said that the number of newspaper readers has been steadily decreasing these days and papers are trying to woo young readers using various measures, but they have not yet found any effective method.

Reading newspapers is like a tradition, so the best way is for parents to encourage their children to read newspapers. Is there no other way to get people to read newspapers except by using explicit expressions and photos? I hope the press will find good ways to attract readers in the future.