Media history is an academic field that takes a long-term view of the impact of media—such as publications, newspapers, movies, radio, and television—on society. Journalism studies sees truth as an important issue, but media studies investigates the scale of media’s impact andeffects. I also feel that media studies is media history itself, as media studies looks at impact and effect, and these can only be measured over the long course of history.

As a university student, I studied the modern history of Germany under Professor Nobuo Noda. I was inspired by his passionate lectures and resolved to be a researcher like him.

When I was studying in Germany, I encountered Zeitungswissenschaft (journalism studies) and went into media history research. I undertook research into the history of the propaganda by the Social Democratic Party of Germany until Nazism, and expanded my interest into Japan’s media to also study topics such as Japan’s regulation of free speech and public opinion polls.

Developing “negative capability on media literacy”

Today, the word “propaganda” often carries a negative nuance of misinformation and manipulation, but it was originally a religious term that came from the Sacra Congregatio de Propaganda Fide (Sacred Congregation for Propagation of the Faith) that was established by Pope Gregory XV to promote Counter-Reformation. However, in the 1930s, the term “mass communication” was born in the US as a replacement for propaganda.

Nowadays, we generally describe publicity by the enemy as propaganda and our own publicity as mass communication, but there is no difference between them except from the angle in which they are viewed. It would be difficult to survive in the current post-truth era if you think of mass communication as conveying truths, and propaganda as conveying falsehoods.

Post-truth is used to describe a state where things that are different from the objective facts are used as facts to sway public opinion. Prominent examples include Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential election in 2016 and the referendum in which the United Kingdom chose to exit the European Union.

The spread of social media has created an era in which anyone can release information. In such times, misinformation, rumors, and fake news can spread massively in an instant and it is difficult to discern accurate information. In this context, developing “negative capability on media literacy”—refraining from judgement or response to ambiguous information and instead exercising critical patience until the truth is known—is important.

Meanwhile, the spread of misinformation, rumors, and fake news is not something new. They have spread through traditional media even before the appearance of social media. Why were they disseminated and why did people believe them? I feel that media history, which explores and verifies the relationship between the media and society, is the key to unraveling the post-truth era full of ambiguous information.

The university is a place for meeting teachers

Currently, I am working on a project to consolidate the media history of East Asia into a textbook for publication in Japanese, Chinese, and Korean. I want students to see me enjoying my work in conducting research, giving lectures, and writing.

The university is a place for meeting teachers. Up till high school, teachers are assigned and students cannot choose them, but here, they can choose their own teachers from a wide range. Just like how I chose my path in life after meeting Professor Noda in the past, I hope the younger generation will make full use of the university so that it becomes an opportunity for them to meet teachers that they can call their own mentors.

The book I recommend

“La Propagande Politique”(Political Propaganda)
by Jean-Marie Domenach, Japanese translation by Takashi Koike, Chikuma Gakugei Bunko

I encountered this book right after entering university and it gave direction to my research. The author was a French philosopher who used propaganda to fight as resistance against the Nazis during the Nazi occupation. The book consolidated the history and ideology of propaganda in a clear manner. The explanation by Professor Shigeo Kawaguchi from Sophia University’s Department of Philosophy is also amazing.

Interviewed: May 2024