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INTEREST: 12 Kyoto News Agencies Request Police to Reveal Names of Remaining 25 KyoAni Fire Victims


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meiam



Joined: 23 Jun 2013
Posts: 3442
PostPosted: Wed Aug 21, 2019 1:11 pm Reply with quote
Is there a reason why the names need to be released? Presumably close kin already know, even if he body haven't been formerly identified. And I imagine any insurance company would be able to find out even if it wasn't public released.
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Yuki_Kun45
Exempt from Grammar Rules


Joined: 26 May 2008
Posts: 725
Location: U.S.A.
PostPosted: Wed Aug 21, 2019 1:16 pm Reply with quote
meiam wrote:
Is there a reason why the names need to be released? Presumably close kin already know, even if he body haven't been formerly identified. And I imagine any insurance company would be able to find out even if it wasn't public released.


Probably for respects of the families to keep the press or other gawkers from bothering them if they don't want to be. Letting them grieve in peace. I imagine at some point we'll find out the remaining victims either slowly trickled out or if there's the memorial park in place of the old studio building a plaque of the names of those lost.
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Sobe



Joined: 04 Jun 2011
Posts: 880
PostPosted: Wed Aug 21, 2019 1:23 pm Reply with quote
Wow, insensitive.

How about these news agencies provide their names to the public ALONG with their physical living addresses and then it'll be fair to release names of the victims and deceased.
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AkumaChef



Joined: 10 Jan 2019
Posts: 821
PostPosted: Wed Aug 21, 2019 1:44 pm Reply with quote
meiam wrote:
Is there a reason why the names need to be released? Presumably close kin already know, even if he body haven't been formerly identified.

Exactly.

The news is fundamentally an entertainment business. The overwhelming majority of what they report is, frankly, none of anyone's business but the people involved. And the people involved already know the situation far better than any news report would lead them to understand.

To quote Don Henley's well-known song "Dirty Laundry", with emphasis added by me:
Quote:

I make my living off the evening news
Just give me something--something I can use
People love it when you lose,
They love dirty laundry

Well, I coulda been an actor, but I wound up here
I just have to look good, I don't have to be clear
Come and whisper in my ear
Give us dirty laundry

We got the bubble-headed-bleach-blond
Who comes on at five
She can tell you 'bout the plane crash with a gleam in her eye
It's interesting when people die
Give us dirty laundry...


This is extremely insensitive on the part of the Media. Frankly, it's disgusting. This is a horrible tragedy, not something for people to gawk at. Let the people affected grieve in peace.
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Gemnist



Joined: 10 Feb 2016
Posts: 1754
PostPosted: Wed Aug 21, 2019 2:09 pm Reply with quote
I'd be more accepting if these were the families. But I wouldn't want to have a publicist publicize my death for the sake of publicizing it. Ultimately, that decision should go to the family.
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Lactobacillus yogurti



Joined: 17 Aug 2011
Posts: 839
Location: Latin America
PostPosted: Wed Aug 21, 2019 2:10 pm Reply with quote
Ogata Megumi voiced Sailor Uranus, not Jupiter.

Also, it's rude to demand the identities of the others. Let the families grieve privately.
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AJ (LordNikon)



Joined: 14 Apr 2009
Posts: 502
Location: Kyoto
PostPosted: Wed Aug 21, 2019 2:29 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
"why don't the journalists who write the articles start by writing all their articles with bylines with their names on them?"


As a thirty year veteran in the print media, mostly spent in Japan for Kyodo. but now retired, we do! A byline is always included in local publication; however, in wire-service reprinting, it is often omitted due to space constraints, or to protect the journalist from retaliation from the government in countries where press freedoms are not absolute (I'm looking at you, Singapore, China, Mexico, and Russia). In Japan, bylines are quite the norm.

Quote:
In addition, director Junichi Sato (Sailor Moon, Princess Tutu, Aria) commented that, "I think the news agencies also have a responsibility to prevent secondary damage that may arise from their reporting. So shouldn't they show how they're going to prevent that from happening first?"


We in the media have an absolute duty to report on on this, and the public has an absolute right to know who has passed. This is one of the largest mass-murder events in Japan to have happened in the past hundred years! To make a claim, that people [in the industry] already knows who passed and to surmise that there is no need to publicly state this information wreaks of of absurdity!

As stated by the UN, "Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference, and to seek, receive, and impart information and ideas through any media regardless of frontiers"

Quote:
The news is fundamentally an entertainment business. The overwhelming majority of what they report is, frankly, none of anyone's business but the people involved. And the people involved already know the situation far better than any news report would lead them to understand.


[snip - removed snark - Errinundra] Aside from the reality that this was one of the largest mass-murder events of the past hundred years, that comment would be like saying to the US after 9/11, "Nothing to see here, just move along." People's deaths, just like their births, even in Japan are public record, and the cornerstone to a free democracy anywhere in the world is an open and transparent society which is at the core of the press.


Last edited by AJ (LordNikon) on Wed Aug 21, 2019 2:38 pm; edited 1 time in total
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AiddonValentine



Joined: 07 Aug 2006
Posts: 2201
PostPosted: Wed Aug 21, 2019 2:32 pm Reply with quote
What. The. HELL? Like, seriously, if the families, KyoAni and the police don't want to reveal the names of the victims out of respect for their families, then it's none of the press' business. This is just gross and exploitative, it's the kind of tabloid journalism that gives the occupation a bad name.
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Kougeru



Joined: 13 May 2008
Posts: 5521
PostPosted: Wed Aug 21, 2019 2:51 pm Reply with quote
Cheers to everything AJ (LordNikon) said. 100% accurate. But a lot of people only like free speech when it aligns with their opinions.

That said, I would personally just do whatever the family wishes and use public information to get the names if I were a news agency.

Lastly, I think any attempt to hide the names is pointless/futile. I understand giving families time to grieve and have funerals, but it's been a month and there's a 99% chance all funerals have been done. The names of the deceased will be known eventually no matter what they do. People, especially well-known people, suddenly never being seen again after that day, would make it very obvious. So it's pointless to try and hide the names forever and I think a month or two is long enough. I don't blame the news agencies for any wrong-doing here. It's their job to report and that's what they're trying to do.
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Dalek-baka



Joined: 03 Jan 2013
Posts: 42
PostPosted: Wed Aug 21, 2019 3:00 pm Reply with quote
AJ (LordNikon) wrote:
We in the media have an absolute duty to report on on this, and the public has an absolute right to know who has passed.
If family decide not to publish it, then media should respect it.

Of course there will be those who want to harass families to get that info because "then WANT TO KNOW" and f*ck that trash.

But when it comes to normal media - would it change anything if that news came out in a month? Or two? Or when everyone at KyoAni is ready?
I get that it wouldn't sell that much newspapers and world would move to another senseless tragedy but they didn't say it will be secret forever.
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meiam



Joined: 23 Jun 2013
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PostPosted: Wed Aug 21, 2019 3:56 pm Reply with quote
AJ (LordNikon) wrote:
snip


No one is saying they shouldn't report on the event, but what benefit is there for the public to have a list of name?
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Top Gun



Joined: 28 Sep 2007
Posts: 4564
PostPosted: Wed Aug 21, 2019 3:58 pm Reply with quote
I know there are cultural differences at play here that I don't really appreciate, but I still find it utterly inconceivable that, a full month after this tragedy, we don't have something as basic as a full listing of who was killed in it. I fail to see how there's anything at all "exploitative" about confirmation of information that's public record in the first place. Obviously waiting those first several days to properly identify the victims and give time for family members to be contacted is a given, but what's to be gained by staying silent so long afterwards? Who really benefits? Honestly one of the most disturbing things about this whole story was everyone already knowing that notables like Yasuhiro Takemoto had passed away through hearsay and rumors, yet being unable to actually report it definitively for days. Doesn't that cause far more turmoil than just being direct?
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AiddonValentine



Joined: 07 Aug 2006
Posts: 2201
PostPosted: Wed Aug 21, 2019 4:10 pm Reply with quote
Top Gun wrote:
I know there are cultural differences at play here that I don't really appreciate, but I still find it utterly inconceivable that, a full month after this tragedy, we don't have something as basic as a full listing of who was killed in it. I fail to see how there's anything at all "exploitative" about confirmation of information that's public record in the first place. Obviously waiting those first several days to properly identify the victims and give time for family members to be contacted is a given, but what's to be gained by staying silent so long afterwards? Who really benefits? Honestly one of the most disturbing things about this whole story was everyone already knowing that notables like Yasuhiro Takemoto had passed away through hearsay and rumors, yet being unable to actually report it definitively for days. Doesn't that cause far more turmoil than just being direct?


Here's the thing: the names will come out eventually (especially when this case goes to trial, which it will), but it has to be on the terms of KyoAni, the families, and the police. You can't force them to reveal anything when they feel they're not ready. You can say "it's been a month", but the grieving process is not universal. If they don't want to reveal the name, then that should be respected.
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Top Gun



Joined: 28 Sep 2007
Posts: 4564
PostPosted: Wed Aug 21, 2019 4:42 pm Reply with quote
Well first of all I don't see why KyoAni should have any say in the matter either way. They were merely an employer, not next-of-kin. Secondly, as was already noted, death notices tend to be matters of public record in many countries (I'm not sure what Japan's laws are on this point). It's not usually standard practice to withhold them unless there's some sort of pressing interest, like for example difficulty in tracking down next-of-kin. And while I certainly respect family members' desire for privacy in their mourning, there's a larger public interest to consider too. This was a case that made international news, an attack on a world-renowned animation studio with millions of fans who have enjoyed the victims' works for many years. Releasing the full list of names would allow them to be recognized and remembered for the joy they've brought. As it stands right now, the rest of the victims outside those ten already released have essentially been forgotten.

Or let's narrow it down a bit: say there are people out there who were maybe acquainted with the victims at one point in their life, like classmates in school, yet may not have stayed in close contact with them. These people may not even know that an old friend passed away. Shouldn't they be given the chance to pay their respects as well?
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DQBunny



Joined: 18 Aug 2009
Posts: 63
Location: Mechanicsburg, PA
PostPosted: Wed Aug 21, 2019 5:13 pm Reply with quote
AJ (LordNikon) wrote:
Aside from the reality that this was one of the largest mass-murder events of the past hundred years, that comment would be like saying to the US after 9/11, "Nothing to see here, just move along." People's deaths, just like their births, even in Japan are public record, and the cornerstone to a free democracy anywhere in the world is an open and transparent society which is at the core of the press.


I'm a 19-year vet in the business, still working for a newspaper. Everything AJ says is 100% correct. EVERYTHING. Also Top Gun. (Side note: all my stories have a byline on them except for my stories picked up by wire services.)

This is a massive international event. The longer basic information is withheld such as the names of the people who died, the more that some sort of coverup is suspected. It'd be like officials in the U.S. not releasing the names of the 9/11 victims, any of the recent mass shootings, etc. Think of all those lost in war, and their names are known. Right now, more attention is given to the arsonist and not the dead. It is HIS name out there being bandied about in current articles, not the victims who should be remembered.

Once their names are known, you wind up with beautiful tributes such as this one from the New York Times on Yasuhiro Takemoto. The focus is then on the victims, not on the guy who did this.

Everyone who died deserves to be remembered. They were all unique individuals with special talents. That begins with releasing their names. Then they have an identity and a voice beyond the faceless "the others who died."
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