Magazine banned for reporting divorce

A Japanese court today upheld an order banning a popular weekly magazine in a high-profile dispute over the right to privacy of a politician’s family.

The Tokyo District Court ordered the Weekly Bunshun magazine to stop distributing its latest issue after the MPs daughter filed an injunction claiming an article about her constituted a violation of her privacy.

The magazine reported that the woman, the 29-year-old daughter of former Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka, had recently been divorced after a short marriage.

The Weekly Bunshun appealed the decision, calling it an unacceptable restriction on freedom of the press, and some media organisations issued statements expressing concern.

In a closely watched ruling, the injunction was upheld late today after a panel of three judges spent two days reviewing the case and meeting with both parties.

The court ruled the article infringed on the right to privacy of the woman and her ex-husband and could cause them “severe emotional trauma.”

“It’s a stretch to say the daughter of an influential politician is just another private citizen,” said Ryosuke Kawai, a professor of journalism at Tokyo Keizai University. “I also think the injunction was regrettable because it denies readers access to other articles.”

Tanaka was the first woman to hold the prestigious post of foreign minister. She became a media celebrity for engaging in unusually public battles with bureaucrats and was sacked by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi nine months after her appointment to his Cabinet in April 2001.