Former U.S. President TRUMP kept shouting that information in the media that was damaging to him was “fake news.” It's hard for people to judge whether the media was really spreading fake news or whether Mr. Trump himself was lying. Media coverage tends to lead people’s minds in one direction. That is why leaders of many countries put pressure on media outlets that are critical of them. Keeping tabs on the government could be considered to be the media’s main mission, and, regardless of the actual situation, Japan’s major media outlets try to maintain a neutral position in their reports. On the other hand, they often sensationalize the news to stir up public sentiment in the hopes of increasing their circulations and ratings. In the past, Japanese newspapers contained reports that glorified the war, stirring up nationalistic sentiments and greatly increasing their circulations. Japan, however, was defeated in WWII. This brought misery to the nation. After the war, the media took an anti-authoritarian stance and a major newspaper ran a story about so-called “comfort women,” an issue that symbolized Japanese militarism. However, it was later discovered that the witness had made the story up and this caused a good deal of trouble. This is just one example. However, there is a growing trend for calling the reliability of media reports into question. Nowadays, it has often been pointed out that only preselected members of the media are able to ask preapproved questions at press conferences with the Prime Minister