July 2007 - Staff members from the Editorial Division are busy working on a newspaper page that relays results of the Upper House elections that produced a crushing defeat for the Liberal Democratic Party.

It is around 2:00 a.m. The morning edition has just been completed, ready to be delivered to millions of households in just a few hours. The Editorial Division is abuzz with clusters of reporters engaged in noisy discussion as they open up copies that have just come off the press. The same scene takes place 365 days a year, including Saturdays and Sundays. There is not a day when the floor is empty. These people all love the newspaper and they all love their jobs as news reporters. The Asahi Shimbun comprises some 2,600 reporters who are scattered across the nation and around the globe. All are committed to digging up news night and day. That is what we do here at The Asahi Shimbun’s Editorial Division.

The Asahi Shimbun’s Editorial Division underwent a major organizational revamping from 2006 to 2007. The names of departments such as the “City News Department” and the “Economic News Department” that had been in use for a long time were changed. We decided to drop the word “department” and call them “sections.” Of course, the change was not in the name only.

New sections, namely “Medical News,” “Labor News” and “Education News,” were established. Three former news sections, covering economic news, political news and foreign news, were regrouped into four sections called “Business and Finance News,” “Economic Policy News,” “Political News” and “Diplomacy and International Affairs News.”

The news that our readers demand will change with the times. The causes of and the backgrounds to each of the incidents covered are becoming increasingly complicated. It is important to cast light on issues from various angles in order to grasp the whole picture. The revamping of the organizational structure was aimed at responding to these needs by making individual sections more specialized and removing the walls that divided departments in order to promote a spirit of cooperation and partnership.

Number of Employees in Editorial Division (As of September 1, 2007)

Male Female Total Staff Writers Tokyo 1,148 241 1,389 38 Osaka 535 114 649 5 Seibu 272 30 302 2 Nagoya 159 33 192 1 Hokkaido 40 5 45 0 Total 2,154 423 2,577 46

For example, in 2007, one of the key issues that intrigued our readers were reports that rightful owners were not known for tens of millions of pension payments recorded. It was a crucial subject linked directly to people’s daily lives, with people wondering in agonized fashion what would happen to their incomes in their retirement years. At the same time, the pension issue also reverberated in the political world, causing a damaging blow to the Abe administration. The pension issue became a point of contention in the July 29 Upper House election.

The “Lifestyle and Social Security News” section has extensive knowledge concerning the social security system and accumulated know-how in conducting investigative news gathering. The “Political News” section kept a close watch over how political parties dealt with the issue and their intentions. The “Economic Policy News” section looked at the issue from the perspective of public finances and the tax system. With the help of the organizational reform, all groups were able to share and exchange their information and cover the issue from various angles. The articles, combined, ultimately managed to capture the essence of the pension issue.

Though the organizational structure may have undergone a major change, not much has changed when it comes to the jobs of news reporters. The basic tasks have remained the same and will continue to do so in the future. Reporters will rush to the scene of a criminal case, an accident, a war or an act of terrorism. They will position themselves on the spot, listen with a good ear and watch out with a keen eye. Reporters will glue themselves to officials of government ministries, agencies, or local governments - night and day - in order to draw out morsels of information. They will seek the truth and ferret out hidden evidence to uncover wrongdoings.

The work of a news reporter is actually a lot of low-profile efforts that seemingly lead nowhere. There is no assurance that information will ever bear fruit. Yet the first step to everything takes place by uncovering a single piece of evidence. It is just like looking for pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. The truth will become clear when the pieces are finally accumulated and put together. Articles written through such efforts are what earn our readers’ trust and invite sympathetic support.

Every one of us here at The Asahi Shimbun Editorial Division knows that in our very hearts, as we run around day after day chasing after the news.

Editorial Division Organization(Tokyo Head Office)

(As of September 1, 2007)

Diplomacy and International Affairs News Section — Overseas General Bureaus and Bureaus Political News Section Business and Finance News Section Economic Policy News Section City News Section Education News Section Regional News Section — Domestic General Bureaus, Bureaus Art and Culture News Section Lifestyle and Social Security News Section Labor News Section Medical News Section Science News Section Sports News Section Evening Edition Feature News Section Editing Center Photo Center Graphic Design Center Opinion Poll Research Center Proofreading Center Aviation Center Hokkaido Editorial Center — Bureaus Op-Ed Section [be] Section Letters to the Editor Section Election Coverage Section Page Examiner’s Office

Once someone decides to look for some information, they now can simply access the Internet using a computer or a mobile phone, any time and anywhere, to conduct their own search and obtain the required information. Does that mean there is no more need for print newspapers? We pondered that issue, and came to the conclusion that “There must be news that only a newspaper can deliver.” After a year-long discussion, our ideas began taking shape, culminating in our newly revised newspaper pages.

First of all, we introduced changes to the front page of our morning edition - the page that serves as the face of the newspaper. No one has time during busy mornings to leisurely peruse newspaper pages. Then, we decided, we should try to summarize all major news items each morning, which can be grasped in a minute. That is how we came up with the large-sized news index on the front page that carries all the news condensed into brief nuggets.

The second and third pages used to carry a variety of news articles covering political and economic news that had happened the previous day. The two pages underwent major changes, which were actually prompted by reader responses. Readers told us: “We don’t want to read articles in bits and pieces. It is hard to understand.” So for these two pages we focused on what the newspaper does best: “digging deep” and “disseminating” news.

The overall theme for the second page is: “Understanding what is happening now.” The main “Jiji-kokkoku” (Current issues changing by the minute) column sifts through all the various news items and focuses on the top item for the day, taking a multidirectional approach and digging deeper to explore the background to issues. A lot of tables and graphs are used to enhance better understanding of complicated issues.

The popular serial, “Nyusu ga Wakaran!” (I don’t understand the news!), was moved from the city news page to page 2. The column explains the news in an easy-to-understand Q & A format, featuring inquisitive owls that throw questions at news reporters.

The theme for page 3 is “Thoughts for tomorrow.” The articles on this page try to dig up issues that have been hidden in addition to looking ahead and focusing on issues that are about to erupt. The goal is to create a page that serves as a “springboard for debate” - something that only a newspaper can do.

The lifestyle pages were also revamped. “Anata no Anshin” (To ease your mind) is a daily column that tries to alleviate various concerns in our daily lives. A new column introducing letters from male readers, “Otoko no Hitoiki” (Men taking a little breather), was also launched.

More pages were added to the education page. A new page devoted to news and information related to college education was launched so that it would help senior high school students who are preparing to proceed to higher education.

We at The Asahi Shimbun made drastic reforms in the newspaper’s pages under our goal of creating “a newspaper that steps forward together with our readers.” But our reforms do not end here. We will continue to ask ourselves the two questions, “What does the reader want to read?” and “What is the kind of news that only a newspaper can deliver?” With those questions in mind, The Asahi Shimbun will continue to change into the future.