Sophia Magazine vol.5 / SUMMER 2017

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izable functions available through social networking sites, will obviously have a far greater tendency toward selective exposure to information, compared to people who read the newspaper or watch TV.” In other words, more and more people are only exposing themselves to information that is within their comfort zones and shutting out all other “incon-venient” information. For example, whenever Trump tweets about “fake news,” his passionate supporters who do not expose themselves to other information may take his asser-tions literally, as the truth. This change in the media envi-ronment was Trump’s main means of defying all predictions to win the election. As Professor Oto stresses, “To ensure the maintenance of a healthy democratic society, it is vital that we establish a system that guarantees people access to the minimum amount of information that they need exposure to, even if it may not be what they want to hear.”However, this poses a major problem, as Professor Oto says, “As media diversifies and competition intensifies, we have to think seriously about how to ensure that the media are capable of providing balanced information that people need to be exposed to, and are managing to survive as busi-nesses.” The newspaper media, for example, has been fac-ing phenomenal subscriber loss throughout the world’s advanced countries. Of course, newspaper companies have been making the switch to digitization, but have been unable to expand sales because subscribers prefer news consolida-tion sites that simply quote news from articles published by newspaper companies. Professor Oto points out that “In Eu-rope, where some social hierarchy still remains, people tend to regard articles based on careful research as being inher-ently more worthy of the expense it takes to produce them. However, there is little such consideration in the U.S. and George Orwell’s novel 1984 has been quietly gaining sales in the U.S. since the inauguration of President Trump, pos-sibly in part as a result of this leader’s dismissive attacks on all unfavorable reports as being “fake news,” reminiscent of the totalitarian state depicted in the novel. However, in his belief that there is no need to worry about the mass media in the U.S. buckling under pressure from Trump and drifting to the right, Professor Oto recalls that “The September 11 attacks on U.S. soil in 2001 triggered overwhelming anger among Americans, prompting a tendency toward nation-alism in much of the media in the U.S. But it wasn’t long before the media readjusted and returned to their former state.” The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guar-antees freedom of the press, one of the founding principles of the country, so it is highly unlikely that the emergence of a high-handed government will lead the U.S. media to abandon this principle easily. Professor Oto says this is also obvious in the media reports that have come out since the inauguration of the new President. However, it is necessary to focus on the fact that Trump has been sending messages directly to his supporters through Twitter before and since the election, leading Professor Oto to point out that “Users of digital media, with their numerous search and custom-Does Selective Exposure to InformationGive Rise to “Big Brother”? The Key: Media Cannot Survive in an Environment of Open CompetitionProfessor Oto moderates Sophia Symposium “Media Contribution in Pro-moting Mutual Condence between Japan and China” in January 2017.16Research