“The Study Group on the Ideal Broadcasting System in the Digital Age” (hereinafter “the Study Group”) was launched in the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication (MIC) in November 2021. Since then, the author has attended its meetings as an observer and interviewed its members for about six months. It seems the MIC is trying to shed an old skin of the “convergence of communications and broadcasting,” which has been chanted in the broadcasting industry and the broadcasting administration like a slogan, to step forward into the age of “all-IP networks” by hammering out appropriate policies, looking ahead for the future roles of the broadcasting industry in that coming era. The determination was felt from the very first meeting, which has given an impression that the broadcasting industry is willing, albeit somewhat baffled, to discuss topics that the industry had been avoided facing squarely. However, the issues raised by the Study Group are complexly intertwined with one another. Therefore, unless having a bird’s-eye view to connect the individual issues, the future of broadcasting media will not be seen clearly. Furthermore, setting a timeline with a long-term perspective is also important to proceed with the discussion. Otherwise, it will be difficult to have everyone on the same wavelength. Observing the discussion so far, however, the author has an impression that these efforts have not been made enough. With these in mind, along with summarizing the discussions that have been made over the past six months, the author attempts to draw a bird’s-eye view picture, paying attention to the relations between individual issues presented as well as the timeline.

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On February 24th, 2022, Russia undertook an invasion of its neighboring country, Ukraine. With its overwhelming military power, Russia launched missile attacks from the air and simultaneously advanced ground troops. At the outset, it seemed simply a matter of time before Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, would fall. Responding to the unilateral change of status quo by force, the United States and other G7 countries strongly protested and intensified economic sanctions against Russia. Anti-war demonstrations were observed around the world, and, even in Russia, people raised their voices to oppose the invasion. How have Japanese televisions reported the war of aggression waged in the 21st century? To investigate it, the author conducted a quantitative survey on the amount of TV coverage. The survey focused on the five days from the first day of the invasion through the fifth day—the day when cease-fire negotiations started, targeting five evening news programs of NHK and commercial broadcasters. The author also surveyed and analyzed studio commentaries, live broadcasts and reports from the local sites, remote interviews, and videos posted on social media sites during these five days. The survey revealed that the coverage during this period included a large volume of reporting on war situations and damages, Russia’s intentions, and economic sanctions. It is also found that footage from social media sites was extensively used, which suggests the series of news reporting can be characterized as “war coverage in the age of social media.” There is no sign of a cease-fire at the point of completing this paper, and the situation is being protracted. This survey focuses on the initial stage of invasion, in order to see the whole picture of war coverage, but it will be important to conduct surveys covering a longer period of time and compare the war reports with those of the past.

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Following the year 2020 when the coronavirus pandemic started, the NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute conducted the second Public Opinion Survey on COVID-19 in 2021. This paper presents the findings. The analysis of the second survey focuses on whom the pandemic is taking a toll on as the impact of the pandemic prolongs. Those feeling “uneasy” about the spread of infection have slightly decreased from the previous survey but still account for about 90%, with women having a higher percentage of those feeling “uneasy” than men. Although the percentage of overall respondents finding it “difficult to make ends meet because of decreased income” is as low as 15%, the figures are higher for certain occupations and employment statuses, with 39% for the self-employed and 24% for men in non-regular employment. While those who felt stressed “more frequently” than before remain at the same level as in the previous survey (almost 70%), more women than men felt so. In addition, many of those with children under secondary school age answered that their stress had increased. In terms of medical care, more than 80% of respondents felt anxiety about the “collapse of medical care” or whether they would be able to receive appropriate treatments when they are infected, which reveals the vulnerability of the Japanese medical system. Triggered by the pandemic, new work styles such as online meetings are becoming more common and the world around us is going more and more online. Regular employees have a higher percentage of those who “have experienced” online meetings or teleworking than non-regular employees, and the figures are high for certain statuses and job types such as business owners and administrative jobs. As to “areas that would be desirable to promote online access,” while 70% of respondents cited “administrative procedures,” less than 30% cited　“school classes.”

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This paper reports the current status of media use, focusing on three devices: TV screens, smartphones, and personal computers/tablets (hereinafter referred to as “PCs”), from the results of the Time Use Survey on Media Use conducted in October 2021. This survey measures mainly the amount of time people spend doing various media use activities on each of the three devices, such as watching Internet videos and social media use. It is found that the amount of time spent using each device per day was: 3 hours and 23 minutes for TV screens, 1 hour and 18 minutes for smartphones, and 34 minutes for PCs. On average for all survey respondents, people spend the longest time on TV screens. The amount of time spent on the devices, however, depends on the age groups. The higher the age group, the longer they spend on TV screens, while young people spend more time on smartphones than on TV screens, with those in their 20s spending more than 3 hours on smartphones. “Real-time TV viewing” (watching broadcast TV) , which is one of the five activities on TV screens, was 2 hours and 54 minutes on average for all respondents, but it was only 28 minutes for men in their 20s. Men in their 20s spend a total of 46 minutes on TV screens doing activities except “real-time TV viewing,” such as “video games” and “watching Internet videos.” It indicates a trend that young people use TV screens for the purposes other than “real-time TV viewing” as well. Out of eight activities on smartphones including “watching Internet videos,” “video games,” and “emails,” the highest percentage of all respondents used “social media.” In terms of “social media,” respondents spend more time “using it while doing something else” than “dedicated usage,” and when combined with the use of other media, those using “social media” while watching TV broadcast (“Real-time TV viewing”) marked the highest percentage; notably, women in their 20s and 30s do this during the nighttime.

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