The CEO of the popular Japanese video site Nico Nico Douga, has spoken out against the comments of Azumi Jun, the acting secretary general of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), labeling his words as ‘libelous’.
The politician suggested that Nico Nico Douga, which functions in a similar way to YouTube, was not an appropriate forum for the pre-election debate that is scheduled to be held on November 29 due to its ‘extremely biased views’. The video site argues that it is open and fair, and the CEO Kobayashi Hiroshi has demanded a written response from the LDP.
Netizens have responded in huge numbers to the news. A selection of their comments are included below.
From Nicovideo.jp:
Regarding the Liberal Democratic Party’s Comments About Nico Nico Douga
A screenshot of the letter of protest regarding LDP comments about Japanese video site Nico Nico Douga.
26th November, 2012
FAO: Mr. Koshiishi Azuma, Secretary General of the Liberal Democratic Party
From: Kobayashi Hiroshi, Chief Excutive Officer of Dwango, Limited
Letter of Opposition
On November 29, a debate special for the general election of the lower house for the fourteen party representatives, including your own party, is scheduled to be held on Nico Nico Douga. Regarding the intentions of Abe Shinzo, of the Liberal Democratic party, to respond in the debate between himself and the Prime Minister Noda Yoshihiko (representative of the Democratic Party of Japan) during the debate special, the acting party secretary-general of the Liberal Democratic Party, Azumi Jun, stated that:’Though they say it is a two-way debate, I think that doing things on an extremely biased video site that allows comments will, conversely, destroy the good tradition of party political debate we’ve had up to this point.’
We strongly oppose this statement; it is both unwarranted and libelous to Nico Nico Douga, which provides a place for the fair transmission of information to all people, groups, and enterprises.
Accordingly, we would like Azumi Jun to make clear the basis on which he criticises the site as being ‘extremely biased.’
Furthermore, as regards the fact that Nico Nico Douga is open to many political parties including your own party, and the fact that your party uses Nico Nico Douga, we would like to inquire as to how your party sees the site.
We ask that you reply to the oppositions and the questions above in writing, within five days.
In addition, on November 29 Nico Nico Douga will host the party political debate that is scheduled for the fourteen political parties. As ever, this debate is also ‘fully open’ to the media in its entirety.
Comments from Ceron.jp:
biac(えるマーク付き):
The LDP has made citizens of the internet completely hostile to them. But even if the LDP wins, we’ll be in a lot of trouble(–;
宮田光臣(MM2P):
I get the impression that Azumi is good at digging his own grave.
てつお:
The thing is, the incident has got so big that Nico Nico have even written a letter of opposition. But I think than Azumi probably knew that there are a lot of Nico-Dou users who strongly support the LDP. That’s probably why he denied it, but the way he said it is really stupid.
BLACK:
It’s reasonable for Nico Nico to protest. They operate an open and unedited site. There’s nothing fairer than that. Still, the LDP criticised Nico Nico for being extremely biased. That said, the LDP have an obligation to reply to Nico Nico’s complaint.
MILI(みり＠超ユニバーサルちくわ研):
I laughed when Nico Dou lost their temper.
三部 保:
Did they seriously submit their letter using this layout? Name. And then printed characters? For a letter like this, they should have put some heart into it and done it with an ink stamp. That’s the Japanese way. Make ‘Letter of Opposition’ bigger. If it’s a letter of opposition, they can use informal Japanese.
mori:
The age-group of users is definitely biased, but it’s LDP politics that gave that age-group have a biased view, so they can’t say anything.
Ryu-suke:
I’m really looking forward to the reply to Dwango’s protest letter, to be submitted in writing within five days from November 29.
愁劉:
I haven’t really grasped the particulars of this story, so I don’t know things for sure, but they’ve posted a letter of opposition…I also wonder ‘what’s going on?’ though…
落ち葉:
I mean, it’s a fact that Nico Dou is biased. It’s also a pity that Prime Minister Noda used that as an excuse to get out of things. As far as this incident is concerned, I’d be happy if both sides blew up.
ブサメン地球代表:
The CEO of Dwango is sooo angry w
nona:
Saying that, TV and newspapers have only ever given biased information haven’t they? Just like those people who say ‘If I don’t benefit from it then it’s bad’ they say that ‘The areas of the media that aren’t biased in our favour are biased’?
後藤寿庵:
Well, Nico Nico certainly doesn’t discriminate against its users, and so on that point it’s not biased. I kind of feel as though the people who leave comments are pretty biased though.
MIZ:
As a system Nico Nico doesn’t discriminate, but the people who use it do. People who use Hatena are the same though.
masa-66:
Maybe the users are biased, but the site is really open, I think. Even though the LDP are using it themselves they’re picking a fight. Stupid.
Hamachiya2:
If the site is fully open, then I want them to make it so that you can watch videos without having to login.
oldfish:
I think it’s a fact that the users are biased.
