Press freedom under serious threat in Japan, says UN official

Tokyo

PRESS independence in Japan "is facing serious threats", a senior United Nations (UN) official said in Tokyo on Tuesday.

David Kaye, the UN special rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and expression, urged media representatives to show more solidarity in the face of such threats and to "push back" against erosion of freedoms.

He also called upon Tokyo to "take urgent steps to protect the independence of the media and promote the public's right of access to information".

However, he praised the country for being a model in the area of freedom on the Internet, in that it "has a high level of Internet penetration, and that the government does not engage in content r…