著者

武田 徹

出版者

恵泉女学園大学

雑誌

恵泉女学園大学紀要 (ISSN:09159584)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.19, pp.91-108, 2007-03

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This article discusses how the idea of publicness has changed in the history of broadcasting in Japan. The Three Radio Wave Laws established in 1950 (Dempa Sampo): including the law defining the principle for regulation of broadcasting (Hoso Ho), the law regulating the use of radio waves (Dempa Ho) and the law establishing a commission to supervise its usage (Dempa Kanri Iinkai Setti Ho) were intended to terminate the government.controlled broadcasting system dictated under the war government, and to build a new public broadcasting system independent from any kind of governmental control. But, soon after the San Francisco Peace Treaty in 1951, the commission to supervise radio wave usage disappeared, and the decision.making capacity to allot the frequency waves moved back to the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications . This meant that the independence of the broadcasting system also disappeared, because the government regained its ability to rule the broadcasting system again by controlling the licensing of radio waves. In additon, recently, as the Internet has been covering our society, the citizen's `right to know' is fulfilled not only by mass.broadcasting, but also by search engines like Google. How should the broadcasting system maintain its position to be `public' under such circumstances ? This article discusses the possibilities of broadcasting to remain a `public' system by referring to John Rawls' "A Theory of Justice" and the idea of `liberal irony' by Richard Rorty.