Our lives today are so closely connected to other countries and influenced by world affairs and foreign trends in everything from daily shopping to environmental issues and security that we do not dare use the word "globalization. The pandemic brought about by the new coronavirus infection also made us realize that the world is connected, as infectious diseases have an undeniable impact on the entire world regardless of national borders. However, is the news about the world reaching us sufficiently? Although we now have more opportunities to obtain news and information through social networking services, the role of the mass media is still very important when it comes to world news, partly due to accessibility issues.

As it stands, GNV will also focus on data from the Asahi Shimbun in 2019 on international reporting in Japan.reportIn 2019, we referred to data from the Asahi Shimbun, but this time we will focus on data from the Yomiuri Shimbun to examine long-term changes in the volume of international news coverage in Japan.

The front page of the Yomiuri Shimbun on January 1, 2011 (New Year's Day) (Photo: Danny Choo / Flickr [CC BY-SA 2.0])

International Reporting from the Yomiuri Shimbun

First, what are the trends regarding the number of international news articles in the Yomiuri Shimbun over the past 25 years since 2000? In this issue, the Yomiuri Shimbun's past articles on "Yomidas.database. The number of articles classified as "international" in the database was confirmed to have always exceeded 20,000 from 2000 to 2008, but has been below 20,000 since then, as shown in the graph below. Therefore, we cannot make a simple comparison, and therefore, the analysis in Yomidas this time is limited to the year 2017 (*1).

As a long-term trend, looking at the 18-year period from 2000 to 2017, broken down into nine-year periods, we see that the average number of articles per year from 2000 to 2008 was 23,813, compared to 17,204 from 2009 to 2017, a decrease of about 28%.

The number of international news articles also varied greatly from year to year, with the largest number of international news articles published since 2000 being in 2002, when approximately 27,000 articles were published. This is thought to be due to the September 2001 terrorist attacks in the U.S., followed by the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq, which were widely reported (*2). (*2) Subsequently, the number of articles gradually declined from 2003 to 2011. When we asked the Yomiuri Shimbun's Public Relations Department about this point, in a response dated July 18, 2025, they said that in 2011, the Great East Japan Earthquake that occurred on March 11, 2011, may have had a relative increase in domestic coverage.

Regarding the increase in articles in 2017, with Donald Trump's victory in the U.S. presidential election and the inauguration of the first administration, news coverage about the U.S.increaseGNV's own international coverage of the Yomiuri Shimbun from 2015 to 2024.surveyBut we can confirm that 2017 had the highest amount of coverage about the United States.

Also, GNV's 2015-2024 survey results and Yomidas' 2018-2024dataFrom the following, it can be said that the volume of international coverage during this period has remained relatively stable. In other words, while international coverage in the Yomiuri Shimbun declined from 2003 to 2011, this does not mean that it continues to decline today.

What is the impact of the decrease in foreign bureaus and correspondents?

We would like to look at the significant decline in the number of international press articles from 2002 to 2011 seen in the graph above from another angle.

For international reporting, the Yomiuri Shimbun and other mass media dispatch correspondents overseas in order to be stationed there and provide direct coverage. However, the number of correspondents has decreased from 61 to 50 between 2000 and 2025 as the situation regarding the Yomiuri Shimbun (*3). For this period, we examined the number of correspondents for each of the five years since 2000, and found a decrease to 50 between 2010 and 2015, as shown in the graph below. This can be said to coincide with the period in which the number of articles in the international press decreased.

There have also been significant changes in the countries and regions to which correspondents are sent in the 25 years since 2000. In particular, there has been a shift in assignments from Europe to China. In 2000, five correspondents were dispatched to China, but by 2025 the number had almost doubled to nine, while in Europe, 17 correspondents were dispatched to nine locations, including London in 2000, but by 2025 the number had dropped to 10, and some branches no longer have correspondents stationed there (*3). We also asked the Yomiuri Shimbun's Public Relations Department about this point, and received the following response.

There is no change in the content of our international coverage. Our correspondents in our overseas bureaus cover all regions of the world, with our overseas bureaus in charge of neighboring regions. In addition, our reporters in Japan, including those in the International Division, gather information from around the world and visit the regions to cover them as needed."

We fully understand that even in the midst of a changing structure, efforts are being made to ensure that there are no changes in the content of news coverage by having correspondents covering neighboring areas and domestic reporters conducting news gathering activities and traveling to the area from within Japan. On the other hand, we cannot deny the possibility that the number of issues that can be pursued and the amount of information that can be collected will decrease, and the number of articles delivered to the International Department at the head office will also decrease, due to the loss or decrease of correspondents stationed in the area and the increase in the number of areas that one correspondent must cover.

Decrease in domestic as well as international coverage?

Here, again, when considering the declining trend in the number of articles, we would also like to look at whether this trend can be said to be limited to international reporting.Yomidas.The graph below shows the total number of articles, including domestic articles, the number of international articles, and the percentage of international articles, based on the "Japan Newspaper Industry Report (JGNI). The graph shows that the total number of articles exceeded 100,000 per year from the 2000s to the early 2010s, but by 2024, the total number of articles will be less than 80,000, indicating that the total number of articles itself is also declining.

However, it is undeniable that there may have been articles that appeared in the newspaper pages but not in Yomidas, or that there may have been a change in the way article counts are handled in Yomidas, so it may not be possible to say that the amount of coverage has decreased based on Yomidas data alone. Therefore, we also checked the number of newspaper pages.

A comparison between 2000 and 2024 reveals that the average daily total of morning and evening newspapers in 2000 was 52.0 pages, but in 2024 it will be 39.3 pages, a decrease of about 24.5% (*4). (*4) Furthermore, when divided into morning and evening editions, the average number of pages in 2000 was about 36.9 for morning editions and 15.1 for evening editions, but in 2024, the average number of pages will be about 30.6 for morning editions and 8.6 for evening editions, a 17.2% decrease for morning editions, and especially a 42.1% decrease for evening editions, indicating that newspapers are becoming considerably thinner. The evening edition, in particular, is down 42.1%, indicating that newspapers are becoming thinner and thinner.

The above confirms a situation in which the volume of both international and domestic news coverage is decreasing. Then, among these, is the international coverage particularly decreasing? We also checked the ratio of the volume of international coverage to the total number of articles. As indicated by the broken line on the graph, the percentage of international coverage as a percentage of the total number of articles shows that the percentage of international coverage declined significantly until 2011, but the percentage of international coverage has not necessarily declined markedly since then. Similar to the long-term trend of international coverage mentioned above, looking at the percentage of international coverage for each of the nine years in the 18-year period from 2000 to 2017, international coverage averaged 18.2% of all articles from 2000 to 2008, while it was 16.7% from 2009 to 2017. This is,The amount of the decrease is considered to be a small amount.There is not expected to be a significant difference in the decrease in international and domestic news coverage.

Background of decline in international and domestic press coverage

It is undeniable that the fundamental reason for the decline in total number of articles and international coverage we have seen so far is the underlying trend away from newspapers. The Yomiuri Shimbun.Highest circulationis estimated to be 10,310,091 copies in 2001. However, the 2024Number of copies soldis 6,182,228 copies (for 2024, the number of copies sold, not the number of copies published).

This downward trend is not limited to the Yomiuri Shimbun. According to a survey by the Japan Newspaper Publishers Association, the circulation of general newspapers (calculated as one copy of a set of morning and evening editions) has decreased from 47,401,669 to 24,938,756 between 2000 and 2024, or 53%.Approx. half reductionThe same is true for newspaper advertising expenditures. In addition, according to a survey by the Japan Newspaper Publishers Association, newspaper advertising expenditures have also decreased by approximately 33% from 2005, when the same calculation method was first used, to 2024.decrease(*5).

An interview with the Yomiuri Shimbun during the Lithuanian Foreign Minister's visit to Japan in June 2022 (Photo: Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs / Flickr [CC BY-NC-ND 2.0])

In addition, as the circulation of "paper" newspapers has been declining dramatically, newspaper companies have been working toward digitization, and the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism's annual digital news report, "Digital News Report.Edition 2025The report points out that "Japanese newspapers have been slow to respond to the shift to digitalization," and that they have been "losing the initiative to Yahoo! News and LI NE News, which collect and provide news from multiple sources," and that they are "groping to find a sustainable business model.

As we have seen, the total number of articles has been declining amid the growing shift away from newspapers, and in the case of international reporting, the number of correspondents has also been decreasing.

Future International Press Coverage

If the trend away from newspapers continues and new business models cannot be established, both international and domestic news coverage will likely decline further. Currently, as digitization progresses, many newspapers are turning to Internet news aggregation sites and social networking services that do not directly engage in news reporting or writing.earningsThe system is such that newspapers that spend a lot of money on reporting and writing in this situation will not be able to generate enough revenue. If this situation does not lead to sufficient profits for newspapers that spend a lot on news gathering and writing, there is a possibility that high quality reporting will not be maintained. As we have seen, there is no particular decrease only in international coverage at this point, but it is undeniable that the high cost of coverage and maintenance may be reflected in the international coverage. The loss of diversity in information due to a decrease in the amount of coverage, both international and domestic, is not good for the citizens on the receiving end of the news. As the situation of journalism, as well as international reporting, is becoming increasingly critical, it is difficult to make a blanket statement, but it may be necessary to discuss the cost to the citizens on the receiving end of information to obtain diverse reporting.

The definition of "international coverage" in GNV is "not limited to articles that appear on the international pages, but includes articles that each company publishes in its newspapers and that GNV judges to be useful for understanding international relations, society, and the state of the world. The definition of international coverage in the GNV is "not limited to articles that simply appear on the international pages,manualThe unified method is used as described in the following table. According to the Yomiuri Shimbun's Public Relations Department, the Yomidas classifications are reviewed as necessary.

2 A search of Yomidas for articles classified as "international" and containing the word "simultaneous terrorist attacks" yielded 1,681 matches for the year 2002 alone.

3 From "List of Foreign Correspondents," Japan Newspaper Yearbook (2000, 2005, 2010, 2015, 2020, 2025). Concurrent positions are counted in only one location, and include commissioned positions.

4 From the reduced-size edition of the Yomiuri Shimbun.

5 Published in the August 2024 issue of Finance, a monthly policy and public relations magazine published by the Ministry of Finance.column (e.g. in newspaper)In "Trends and State of the Newspaper Business," the authors analyze that newspaper publishers are facing difficult times and are increasing the proportion of other revenues, such as real estate, instead of sales and advertising revenues.

Writer: Maiko Takeuchi

Data: Virgil Hawkins, Honoka Nishiuke

Graphic by Virgil Hawkins

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