Article Comparison
Article Comparison
This paper explores two articles that appeared in the Japan Times and the Asahi Shimbun on March 7, 2016, and March 8, 2016, respectively. The topic is about ‘Yakuza War’ as was covered and reported by Asahi Shimbun and the Japan times. ‘Yakuza War’ is a wrangle between two warring gang groups in Japan, which attack each other, prompting the police to declare it a war.
Compare
The story is in Japan’s two leading news outlets; Asahi Shimbun and Japan Times, covering a similar story of a deadly gang attacks between two leading groups due to internal wrangles following their split. The papers have elaborately covered the same story from title to conclusion, mentioning the internal operations of yamaguchi-gumi gang group and their splinter group. Asahi Shimbun’s title writes a-police-declared- yakuza war, the same story is equally carried in the Japan Times.
Both papers’ lead lines begin by informing the readers about the police department declaring that the two gang groups are in a state of war. The police are on red alert following the activities of the groups on each other following their break up. According to Yoshida, the police “judged the situation holistically to be in a state of war,” (Yoshuda, 2016). The AFP, as reported by the Japan Times, affirm this by reporting that the police said two groups are in “war against each other” (AFP, 2016).
Both papers have highlighted splitting of the original group Yamaguchi-Gumi into two factions as the source of conflict. The two papers observed that the tension between the warring factions has increased the possibility of war between them. Most notably is that the attcks take place at Kobe which is core of the warring gang groups, (Yoshida, 2016). Japan times also report the attacks are centred at Kobe.
In both papers, the police department has formed a response unit to stem the fully fledged wars between the rival gang groups. Japan Times reports of a police force created to stop the Yakuza war as Asahi Shimbun talks of central headquarters ‘to intensively crackdown the syndicate' (Yoshida 2016). The police are on red alert according to both media outlets, as they seek to take control of the situation.
Both papers report the attacks that have already taken place, and that the police believe they (attacks) are connected to the warring factions of the gangs. In both cases, there are gun attacks although no reported cases of fatalities. The attacks have sprung the police into action to control the groups. In both reports, the papers give a brief summary and background information on these gang attacks. These include the organization, source of funding and activities. Asahi Shimbun explains the cause of the split while Japan Times give more information on the history of the gang-related attacks in Japan.
Contrast
The title of each article brings a different meaning. Japan Times writes: Police set up a unit to stop ‘yakuza war’ (AFP, 2016) which depicts that the police are in control of the whole situation. But on the contrary, the Asahi Shimbun wrote: Nationwide yakuza war has officially kicked off, police say (Yoshida, 2016). This title creates panic and anxiety and may be intended to sell the paper.
Japan Times reports that the police have made some arrests of gangsters (AFP, 2016). On the contrary there is no such mention of police arrests covered in Asahi Shimbun. The Japan Times report that most arrests had indeed suspected to be the reasons behind the chain of attacks as various members of the gang sought to revenge. The Asahi Shimbun, however, omits this.
In Asahi Shimbun, all the correspondents came directly from the national police agency, and no official name is mentioned in the correspondence. However, Japan Times report of different police officers whose names have also been mentioned. The heavy police presence in the area around the elementary school gives them fear that the situation could get out of hand. In the contents, the two papers differ in that Japan Times is descriptive and chronological while Asahi Shimbun is direct and hard-hitting.
Evaluation
The more informative article for me was Japan Times. Reporting is objective from the title itself. Throughout the paper, they give the efforts and plans of the police to control the situation. Their correspondences have also given diverse opinions, including a police officer lamenting over the panic of the citizens and the surety of remedy.
On the other hand, Asahi Shimbun has centralized its ideas vaguely and majored in gangs than informing the people of the efforts. They also seem to allege that the matter is now out of the control of the police, as mentioned in their title.
References
AFP, JIJI. (2016, March 7). “Police set up unit to stop ‘yakuza war.’ Japan Times. Web.
Retrieved fromhttp://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/03/07/national/crime-legal/police-set-unit-stop-yakuza-war/#.Vt8HF9BMjwt
Yoshida, Shimpachi. (2016, March 8). “Nationwide yakuza war has finally kicked off, police
say.” The Asahi Shimbun. Web. Available at http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/social_affairs/AJ201603080048
