J.A.A. Stockwin, University of Oxford:
This is unambiguously an academic work, but also immensely readable. He amusingly distinguishes four types of mass media functions: those of watchdog, guard dog, guide dog and lapdog.... The book includes an entertaining section on successive NHK presidents.
Gregory J. Kasza, Indiana University:
This is a superb original study of the world's biggest broadcasting company, Japan's NHK. Sophisticated comparisons run throughout the book, making it mandatory reading for social scientists who work on broadcasting both in Japan and in other countries. Ellis Krauss has made a major contribution to research on Japanese politics as well as to the broader literature on the politics of the mass media.
Nathaniel B. Thayer, Johns Hopkins University:
The reader need not accept Krauss's conclusions to derive great benefit from reading this book.
Susan J. Pharr, Edwin O. Reischauer Professor of Japanese Politics, Harvard University:
NHK, Japan's BBC, faithfully reports official statements despite legal guarantees that protect its independence. Ellis Krauss asks why. In this fascinating and highly readable book on the politics of public broadcasting, Krauss opens an enticing new window on Japanese politics.
Krauss's book is a rare model of how research should be done—i.e. grounded in theory and executed systematically, longitudinally, and comparatively.... Krauss includes both English and Japanese sources to fully document what must be considered the most thoroughly researched book to date (in English) on Japanese broadcasting.
Ellis Krauss analyzes in rich detail the unique relationship between Japan's public broadcasting network—the NHK—and its political system. This book not only advances the West's knowledge about the relationship between journalism and politics in Japan but offers useful lessons about the media that go far beyond the Japanese case.
David Leheny, University of Wisconsin, Madison:
Broadcasting Politics in Japan is one of the best new works on Japanese politics I have read in years, and it deserves a wide audience.... It is refreshing to find a genuinely creative and original book on Japan that should have broad relevance for research on the press and political legitimacy in general. This is an excellent book, filled with rich detail, sharp insights, and a novel approach.
Laurie A. Freeman, University of California, Santa Barbara:
In this analysis of Japan's public service broadcaster, NHK, Ellis Krauss provides a wonderfully nuanced and detailed example of the ways the mass media and the Japanese state intersect, creating in the process a media product frequently serving the state's interests.... Krauss has written an important work, one that contributes greatly to our understanding of the role that specific institutions, norms, and practices as well as historical events have played in delimiting the watchdog function of the Japanese media, especially its public service broadcaster, NHK.
