In Japan, lawmakers form group to ensure fair campaign ads before referendum

By Hideo Matsushita, 30 August 2018
photo credit: Junpei Abe/flickr
photo credit: Junpei Abe/flickr
Lawmakers seeking a level playing field for TV campaign ads in the run-up to an expected national referendum on revising the Constitution set up a cross-party group for the cause on Aug. 29. The suprapartisan league aims to prevent any particular political party or entity from gaining an unfair advantage, particularly those with more financial clout than others, by broadcasting a disproportionate share of Constitution-related promotional messages. “It would be appropriate to air the same volume of TV campaign ads that promote pros or cons of the proposed constitutional amendments in the same time slots as much as possible,” Hajime Funada, Lower House member of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and head of the league, said in a news conference at the Diet. [ . . . ] The group will discuss what kinds of Constitution-related messages paid TV ads should contain, reflecting its fears of a possible imbalance of the representation of opposing viewpoints.
Read the full article here: The Asahi Shimbun

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