Course Description

It is information that is transmitted in the news media. In the January 1963 edition of Hosoasahi, Tadao Umesao published Information Industry Theory: Dawn of the Coming Era of the Ectodermal Industry. It argued for understanding the word “information” in Japan as not restricted to military or confidential affairs (as it had been up until then) but “in the broadest sense” and for “considering the ‘information industry’ as an antithetical concept to the energy industry which had been synonymous with ‘industry’” (editorial note). This was reprinted in the March 1963 edition of Chuokoron.
　The scale of Tadao Umesao’s (1920–2010) activities was impressive, and his publications are wide-ranging. In Sociology of News Reporting I and II, students will read a selection of his works to investigate the significance of information industry theory and the position of Umesao’s activities within it. Students will also investigate the social context within which such works were published and the type of media in which they were published.