On 20 January, Professor Takumi Sato of the Graduate School of Education delivered a lecture about "Media Literacy regarding the 'Will of the People'" at Kyoto University's Tokyo Office. The talk was the second of the "Investigating 'Communication'" public lecture series hosted by the Tokyo Office. The series itself was the 20th to be presented under the public lecture program, Tokyo de Manabu Kyodai no Chi ("Ingesting Kyoto University's Knowledge -- in Tokyo").
Prof Sato's talk centered on the "will of the people" and "public sentiments", key phrases in the national debate on the 2015 Japanese military legislation. Pointing to relevant newspaper articles, he spoke of the dangers with the media citing government approval rating to report the "will of the people" and "public sentiments", and, to illustrate this point, compared the headlines and survey questions used by different outlets.
He then discussed media literacy in reference to two Japanese words -- yoron ("public opinion") and seron ("popular sentiments"). He delineated the differences between these words, describing them as two different concepts, despite often being regarded synonymously in present-day Japan. He emphasized the importance of thinking from multiple perspectives and trying to distinguish "opinions" from "sentiments", the former of which are attributable to individuals while the latter are nothing more than "atmospheres" to the development of media literacy.
The lecture concluded after a lively Q&A session.
Professor Sato
Lecture venue
