Nova’s Death Throes…and where has the media been?
Before I write what I’m going to write, I will let the media tell their story, since they havn’t had much of one to tell until now.
On Monday night, the following twelve minute spot detailing problems at the embattled Nova Corporation aired on Kansai TV. Thanks to Let’s Japan forum member Muteki for posting the videos.
(If those videos do disappear, post them without having “Kansai TV” in the title; Japanese media agencies seem to hunt files down by searching titles.)
We finally have the major media devoting some time to the issue, and thankfully also depicting a story from a Japanese employee of the firm.
There was other bad news for Nova on Monday. An article on Livedoor News (ooh, the irony) reported that a Mr Nishida, who was arrested earlier this month on charges of market manipulation, was involved in brokering the transaction that would have Nova issuing 200 million new shares to two investment funds in the British Virgin Islands. Although a connection had previously been implied - and told to me confidentially that it existed - this is the first time we have seen the connection published in the media.
Then, Sankei/MSN reported that Anders Lundqvist, a Nova director and co-founder of the company, has resigned. Someone clearly doesn’t have faith that these equity warrants are going to be enough to pull the company through, even if they are exercised.
It could have been worse. Nova has not been delisted from the JASDAQ stock exchange, although I have been of the thinking that such a move would not come until Tuesday at the earliest, and possibly not before the end of this week. The government has not yet intervened and told Nova to either pay salaries or declare bankruptcy; it seems as though a delisting or major arrest would have to happen before that does.
At any rate, a few people have asked me if I thought the media coverage thus far on Nova has been bad, or insufficient. That’s a difficult question for me to answer, because in general, I usually tend to think that media coverage is bad, and always insufficient. Thus far, we have seen Toyo Kezai, the Yomiuri Weekly and the Japan Times all put out solid stories on the Nova situation. The daily newspapers have reported significant events as they have happened, but have stopped short at actually digging for information. Television news has been much the same: walkouts, protests and strikes have been covered, but there has been little effort to actually explain the situation or analyze what might actually be going on at the firm.
I have heard (or read) some people claim the media is afraid of libel suits. I don’t really buy that. Libel suits in Japan are expensive to undertake, often take years to get through the courts, carry small rewards, and payment of the penalty is rarely enforced (ask those who have sued Ni Channel if they’ve seen any money). Certainly, those with power are able to use threats of libel as a tool to keep rabblerousers in check, but Nova is in no position of power. TPR’s Garrett DeOrio is much more of an expert on Japan’s libel laws in practice, and I would defer any questions on them to him. Basically, through conversations with him, I have been convinced that fear of libel - especially when Nova could hardly afford to pay a lawyer to mount a case - is not behind the lack of in-depth reporting on the Nova situation.
I honestly feel it comes down to interest, and I have not yet expected to see much come out of the major media outlets. Editors and producers are the ultimate judge on what gets published or broadcast, and they need to keep enough pairs of eyes interested in their programs so that their sales departments can sell advertising. The Nova situation is one in which we see a small group of people who have a very, very intense personal relationship with the firm, and thus a high level of personal interest. If Nova’s student numbers are what it claims (around 400,000-480,000), and we assume the number of employees at the beginning of this year to be about 7,000 people, we are still talking about less than one half of one percent of the population that has a personal stake in the situation. Of course, even fewer people had a personal interest in the Murakami Fund, the Livedoor affair, or the most recent large earthquake in Niigata, yet those were all over the news…
…After they happened, after the events were large enough to reek of malfeasance or painful enough to show personal hardship and suffering on the television. That is, after they were large enough to ensure viewer or reader interest. Does last night’s broadcast indicate that the Nova story has reached this level? Will interest and media attention finally pick up? Is it bad enough for you yet?
Until now, we have probably seen more media interest in Australia and New Zealand than in Japan. Here, a very small number of people not personally involved with the company have been following the Nova case, writing on it and providing translations whenever possible. Shawn at Let’s Japan comes to mind, as does Chris Salzberg at Global Voices Online. I do not know if Ben Stubbings of the Japan Times is personally involved with the firm. I have done what I can at Japan Economy News to keep a thread where current information can be discussed, but what I can do pales in comparison with what Shawn’s site can do, is nothing compared to the reach that Chris has, and from my position as an outsider it is impossible to judge the mood within the walls of the company. Although none of us are personally involved in the company, I think we all realized that the story carries heavy significance, and the reasons for that will be varied.
At the same time, I know that in the months after Nova goes down, we are going to hear from every magazine, newspaper, website and television commentator imaginable, in both English and Japanese, on the problems that existed at Nova and the ‘predictability’ of its downfall. They will list the factors that led to the company’s demise and the sequence of events leading up to its implosion. They will wonder why no one else saw the signs, when they were so clearly written on the wall. It’s too bad we haven’t heard anything from them yet.
Related Posts:
- State of the Trans-Pacific Radio for October
- Justice Minister Kunio Hatoyama OK’s Hanging of Four Death Row Inmates
- Abe’s Resignation, Aso, Fukuda, and the race to be PM, the Death Throes of Nova, and Wii: TPR News for Saturday, September 15, 2007
- Agriculture Minister Matsuoka Buys the Farm （松岡が自殺した。）
- Nazi Eyes On Canada, part 4: Holly Metcalf and Bob Maxwell Story (starring Orson Welles and Vincent Price)
