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Summary

Text and online: low barrier. documented Newspaper publishers are prohibited from being publicly traded, which shapes ownership structure but does not restrict entry.2 An online-only outlet faces no licensing requirement.

Broadcast: high barrier and a political exposure. documented Terrestrial broadcasting requires a licence from the communications ministry, which is the same body whose pressure practices the bar associations have challenged; broadcasters additionally carry the Art. 4 "political fairness" duty.4 inferred Entering broadcast converts a press-freedom project into a regulated entity subject to the very lever documented in The Regulatory Lever.

Access: exclusion is legal. documented Kisha-club membership rules exclude non-members from press conferences, and courts have declined to grant freelancers access.2 inferred A new outlet should assume it will be outside the clubs and plan sourcing accordingly.

Secrecy and reporting restrictions. documented RSF records that the government declines to amend the specially designated secrets law, which punishes publication of information obtained "illegally" by up to ten years, and that vague land-use wording blocks journalist access to 583 zones near defence facilities and other security-designated sites.1

Defamation. documented RSF notes that politicians have sued journalists over retweets deemed defamatory, and that nationalist groups routinely harass journalists covering subjects deemed unpatriotic.1 inferred A new outlet should budget for litigation as a routine operating cost rather than an exception.

Foreign capital. documented The communications ministry's 2021 investigation found three broadcasters in past violation of foreign-capital rules and warned them; the same rules that caught Tohokushinsha are enforced against broadcast licensees.3 inferred Any non-Japanese funding of a broadcast arm needs legal review before commitment; an online-only entity is not subject to the same test.

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Footnotes

  1. RSF country profile — the secrets law, the 583 restricted zones, defamation suits, harassment of journalists. ↩↩

  2. Wikipedia, Kisha club — membership rules and the failed 2005 access application. ↩↩

  3. Asahi — the ministry's post-scandal survey finding three broadcasters in past foreign-capital violation, and the 14 disciplined officials. ↩

  4. Okayama Bar Association (2016) — the broadcast licensing regime and the Art. 4 duty. ↩