Remember the online campaign by Japanese bloggers and 2-channelers that forced Mainichi to remove its WaiWai column, punish employees, and make several apologies? Adam Richards has translated an in-depth article about the WaiWai incident and its effect on mainstream Japanese media. Here’s an excerpt from the beginning of the article:

The amazingly destructive power of Internet-organized telephone pressure campaigns

To find out about the recent scandal involving sleazy articles disdainful of women posted for years on the Mainichi Shimbun’s English-language website (Mainichi Daily News), over the past month I have met with many people, both inside and outside Mainichi [Japan’s third-largest newspaper in terms of circulation.]

As a result of my discussions, I have learned that this incident’s impact both on Mainichi and the newspaper industry as a whole was much greater than people imagine. Its destructive force has created an astonishing situation. This incident may well be the milestone that turns the relationship between the Internet and the mass media on its head.

Read more: What’s going on inside the Mainichi Shimbun? (Part 1 of 2) by Toshinao Sasaki

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