Balanced coverage of China-Japan relations 'needed' for better understanding

Balanced, comprehensive and sensible coverage of China-Japan relations is needed, according to senior media professionals from the two countries who attended a forum in Tokyo on Monday and Tuesday.

They warned that biased reports would fuel misconceptions among people in China and Japan.

Jin Ying, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, used the East China Sea issue as an example.

China and Japan have reached a principled consensus on the issue, which has not been covered fully in the two countries. Their agreement on fishing around the Diaoyu Islands has barely been reported. Also, they have agreed on building a crisis management mechanism after the meeting between President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang province, last month.

People in the two countries are not adequately informed of these consensuses, Jin said.

Representatives from major media organizations in China and Japan, including China Daily, China Central Television, Yomiuri Shimbun, Kyodo News Agency and NHK, compared notes on what role media plays in promoting understanding between the two peoples.

Gao Anming, deputy editor-in-chief of China Daily, said media professionals can play a constructive role in helping people in the two countries understand each other better and reduce irrational feelings.

A recent opinion poll conducted by the China International Publishing Group and Japanese think tank Genron NPO showed that 71.3 percent of Chinese interviewees took Chinese media's coverage of Japan and the China-Japan relations as fair and objective, while only about 20 percent of Japanese counterparts accepted Japanese reporting of China and bilateral ties.

Veteran Japanese journalist Yasuhiro Tase said that the mainstream media in the country stood behind all the Japanese wars with other countries, and Japan's media outlets have not reflected on the role they played in the past.

Ryuta Okutani, senior manager of News Reporting Center's International News Division of Japan Broadcasting Corp, recommended that fashion-oriented tourism be developed to draw young Japanese to China, creating opportunities for them to have exchanges with their young Chinese counterparts.