Smartphones versus NHK? Mobilization strategies of the Japanese anti-nuclear movement under Abe’s restrictive media policy

Abstract

ABSTRACTAgainst the background of Japan’s falling rank in the Reporters Without Borders’ Press Freedom index, from 22 in 2011/12 to 61 in 2015, and a growing self-censorship within Japanese mainstream media since Prime Minister Abe took office in 2012, this article examines what media strategies are adopted by social movement actors and asks whether Internet-based media strategies replace contacts to mass media circles. Media coverage plays an important role in movement mobilization; however, the relationship between media and social movements is characterized by a power relationship leaning toward media actors, as social movement scholars such as Gamson and Wolfsfeld suggest. This article tackles these questions from the perspective of movement actors based on 24 qualitative semi-structured interviews with representatives of social movement organizations active in the anti-nuclear movement conducted in 2013 and 2014 in the Greater Tokyo Area. The results indicate that with growing public demand for alternative internet-based information by civic groups, movement organizations expand their activities in this realm while at the same time they do not neglect mass media contacts.