Do you think it is appropriate for newspaper headlines to include the nationality of defendants or suspects wanted for questioning by police?
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37 Comments
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0
telica
Not unless it is relevant to the story. What purpose does it serve otherwise, other than to villify the named race of people and create/reinforce negative stereotypes. I'm pretty sure this is a widely accepted principle of journalisim.
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jerseyboy
Absolutely not. Serves no constructive purpose.
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smartacus
I can see why newspapers do it and I think it is OK. For example, "Brazilian arrested for hit-and-run" tells a reader more than just a simple "Man arrested for hit-and-run."
Also, if a suspect is on the run, I think it is fair to alert the public to the suspect's nationality.
Anyway, since I have worked in media, there is an important distinction to remember. If a newspaper headline says, for example, "Brazilian man arrested for hit-and-run," that is not being racist. That is a statement of fact. It's the way some readers perceive and discuss it on forums like Japan Today that tend to make the headline discriminatory, where it really isn't at all.
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combinibento
No, not in the headline. The headline should briefly describe the nature of the article itself; presumably the articles are not devoted to or centered around a person's nationality. The story itself can of course mention it.
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stevecpfc
If the person is deemed as a danger to the general public, then i think including nationality and looks etc is fine.
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Badge213
I don't have a problem. Seen it done in other countries as well.
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memyselfI
No, I do not want the police knocking on my door, asking me questions because I fit a vague descrption of the suspect(s). It's scary if we surcome to that. In Japan it's boring if a native person commits a crime. It's more exciting if a foreigner commits a crime because foreigners are taboo & scary looking. It shouldn't be in a headline, but the citizens of the surrounding community should be alerted to the suspect(s) description.
0
Disillusioned
It's illegal in Australia the same as advertising for male or female employees, which I believe is also illegal in Japan.
0
blvtzpk
Hmmm. Do I get credit for this question for raising this in my recent posts?
BTW, a quote was misattributed to my username in Metropolis last year. Happy to see the username in print, but not when it wasn't what I said!
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blvtzpk
I agree with memyselfI - it usually has nothing to do with the crime except to catch readers' attention, and in the world of print journalism, sell copies. In a country with a tendency towards xenophoboia, ANY labeling of the criminal with nationality/race/ethnicity serves to be an 'othering' process, and feeds that fear and distrust of the foreigners. However, if the nationality/ethnicity/race of EVERY person was constantly used, I'd see that as an equal playing field, but that's not going to happen is it?
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neverknow2
No it's not. The media in Australia will always report which country an alleged offender and victim are citizens of. It is illegal to make a claim as to their race or creed.
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Beelzebub
I suppose this has to be decided on a case-by-case basis. Take the team of thieves from Hong Kong who flew here just to rob jewelry shops in Ginza. It is hard to underplay the fact that they are foreigners, and their heist got heavy coverage in the news. But foreigners who reside here legally deserve a degree of anonymity, at least until guilt or innocence is established.
0
timorborder
There has to be some sense of perspective. You cannot just single people out by their nationality or race. If the Japanese press wants to wax lyrical about "Brazilians" or "Black people," then they should be calling their own compatriots either "Japanese" or "XXXXX" (which is a word that the moderators would sure to delete) :)
0
Bholder
the question is should the HEADLINES include nationality, not should it be reported at all. and, as said above, since the nationality is not the main point of the news there is very little if any reason for it to take the valuable space of the few words headlines normally have. so for example, rather than saying "brazilian man arrested for hit and run" adding more content to the headline like "man arrested for hit and run, denies crime" is far more appropriate IMO. of course, DETAILS like NATIONALITY can appear in the main body of the article and no one disputes that i believe.
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yabusama
In the headlines no, even if it is a matter of fact. The nationality of the person can be mentioned in the body of the story. Mentioning it in the headlines does nothing but create hysteria and hype.
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pawatan
No, I don't, unless it is specifically relevant to the story. As with the Hong Kong thieves mentioned above, sure. With the Brazilian hit-and-run last week, absolutely not, especially as they were of Japanese descent. There's no reason I can think of in a case like that to mention the nationality of the suspects as it does not physically distinguish them (for identification purposes as they were on the loose).
It's a fine line, but I think it's important to tread on the side of less information rather than more, lest the media inadvertently (or not) cause more discrimination.
0
Shackle
Damn right!
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dolphingirl
In the headline, no. In the body of the report, nationality can be mentioned if the person has already been arrested or is being held for questioning. But if it's an unknown suspect then it makes more sense to give a physical description of the person in which case they should use words like Caucasian, Asian, Black, Hispanic, etc. When an article just says the suspect looked like a 'foreigner', it is really just fuels discrimination.
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nisegaijin
Yes, those are facts. nothing more, nothing less. Facts should go into news. discussion is over.
0
Betting
I think it is completely unnecessary. Putting the nationality of the defendant/suspect in the headline provokes rascism and unnecessary reactions against people from that country. My current boss who has vast amounts of free time and only seems to surf the internet, whenever she knows the nationality of the person who commits a crime in Japan always (and I mean always, without fail) says, "Ah ... maybe we can't trust people from that country". It would be nice if she could realise that a person who is at fault, not a race of people.
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neverknow2
In some countries, that's the reason why they put it in there.
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Frungy
I think the simple question that needs to be asked is, "Is it in the public's interest to know the nationality of suspects in criminal cases?". If the answer is yes then the media are entitled to report the nationality of suspects, but with that goes the obligation to report the nationality of ALL suspects, not just foreigners, and to make sure they don't just report the cases involving foreigners. That way people will see that actually crimes committed by foreigners represent a tiny fraction of the crime in Japan, not distorted view that people currently have that most crimes are committed by foreigners. I do strongly object to it when the media distorts things by reporting that "Brazilians" committed a crime when the "Brazilians" in question are actually carrying Japanese passports. This has happened more than a few times in the past, and while I can understand that it is easy for the initial error to happen it is then the newspaper's responsibility to correct the error later.
0
LFRAgain
When it has absolutely nothing to do with the crime allegedly committed, not, absolutely not.
Including that information is a xenophobic and transparent attempt to paint crimes in an "Us versus Them" manner that is statistically unsupportable.
0
Newsman
I think most of the posters here have demonstrated good news judgment, perhaps better than some editors I could finger.
A headline is supposed to condense the essential elements of a story ("Man Bites Dog", etc.) Is it essential to know a defendant's or suspect's nationality? If it is, run it; if it isn't, don't. To decide that issue well requires good news judgment ... ah, there's that phrase again.
0
XXXXX
I agree. But they don't have a clue about ethnicity.
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bdiego
Not if they're blatantly lying about it. Many articles imply a suspect is not a Japanese national when he in fact is. Others suggest a suspect is a foreigner, when they are Zainichi Korean. And some simply assume that someone from another country is not a Japanese national (i.e. Japanese nationality is not determined by place of birth, but your ancestors).
0
perspective
I don't think the problem is so much that they specify the nationality or ethnicity of the alleged criminals but rather that a lot of crime by Japanese people doesn't make the news while almost every crime, no matter how petty, committed by a foreigner does.
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Goya-Champuru
media have to do their job and the nationality of suspect is important.
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FreeganSlayer
Yes, but there are different levels of appropriateness.
Good: Somali Pirates Hijack Tanker
Bad: Black Guys Steal Boat
0
Priest
Yes, why not-if it is true? Why is this even a question? If the headline doesn`t say the nationality of the suspect then they are probably Japanese. I think foreigners are becoming a bit "oversensitive" and a bit too "PC" for their own good, if they are going to whine about this kind of thing.
"Good: Somali Pirates Hijack Tanker
Bad: Black Guys Steal Boat"
The question relates to "nationality" not color. To mention the color of a suspect would be blatantly racist and offensive.
0
FreeganSlayer
They were sure to point out that the fellow found dead in the landing gear at Narita yesterday was black.
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blvtzpk
Oh - you're getting a touch PC, it seems.
0
bacster
I think its ok. It also goes the other way wherein a different national did a good thing like for example "Brazilian National saved baby's life".
Saw it in other country's news as well..like "Japanese national wanted for murder", etc.
0
notimpressed
so what is the difference between 'Peruvian person commits XYZ' Vs 'Man commits XYZ' ? Assuming the 'man' is Japanese, does this denote that only Japanese people are people, while all other creeds are some kind of subcategory?
I think including nationality in the title should only be neccessary in certain cases, and it is perfectly reasonable to print it in the body of the article. But when foreign crime is over reported when compared to Japanese on Japanese crime, it is obviously done with the intention of sensationalizing the suspects nationality or non-Japanese-ness, to perpetuate unfair stereotypes, and to make money from small minded peoples xenophobic fears.
If readers would ignore the article without a foreigner stamp in the title, then it wasn't news worthy to begin with. If they only read it because of that foreigner stamp up there, well...grasping at straws and playing the race card much?
0
Sheeple
There is nothing wrong with this practice at all. It's done in every country. It is the rule, not the exception.
0
LFRAgain
Goya-Champuru,
Why specifically is it important?
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therightsofman
I think it is appropriate, just so long as it is fairly done. For example:
"Kenji Tanaka, a 35 year-old Japanese national, is being sought by police on suspicion of ...."
If all suspects were treated equally then I would have no problems with it.
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