When Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe spoke on the southern island of Okinawa last week he faced loud heckling — but Japan’s media did not report it.

日本首相安倍晋三(Shinzo Abe)上周在日本南部的冲绳岛发表讲话时，遭到大声诘难，但日本媒体却并未报道此事。

Such heckling is highly unusual in decorous Japan so the decision to ignore it by many news outlets, including national broadcaster NHK and the top circulation Yomiuri newspaper, shows how successfully Mr Abe has cowed, or co-opted, the Japanese press, say critics of the prime minister.

安倍的批评者称，在注重礼仪的日本，这样的诘难十分罕见，因此，包括日本国家广播电视机构日本放送协会(NHK)和日本发行量最高的报纸《读卖新闻》(Yomiuri)在内的诸多媒体决定忽略此事，充分表明安倍在胁迫和笼络日本媒体方面做得有多么成功。

Mr Abe appointed a close supporter as director-general of NHK and targeted the liberal Asahi newspaper’s coverage of wartime “comfort women” in moves that stoked fears about press freedom in Japan.

安倍曾将一名与其关系密切的支持者任命为NHK的会长，并针对自由派报纸《朝日新闻》(Asahi)关于战时“慰安妇”的报道采取了多项措施，这些措施引发了对日本新闻自由的担忧。

It emerged at the weekend that a group of young parliamentarians from Mr Abe’s Liberal Democratic party want to put pressure on businesses to withdraw advertising to discipline recalcitrant media outlets.

上周末有消息称，安倍所在的自民党(LDP)中，有一群年轻议员打算对商界施加压力，要他们撤回在不服管束的媒体发布的广告，以惩戒这些媒体。

“In terms of the heckling in Okinawa, the fact NHK didn’t really report it shows that the Abe government has largely succeeded in emasculating the Japanese media,” said Koichi Nakano, professor of politics at Sophia University in Tokyo.

东京上智大学(Sophia University)政治学教授中野浩一(Koichi Nakano)表示：“就安倍在冲绳受到的诘难而言，NHK实际上并未予以报道。这说明，安倍政府在很大程度上成功地阉割了日本媒体。”

Speaking at a war memorial ceremony, Mr Abe was heckled with shouts of “Warmonger!” and “Go home!”, showing the depth of feeling on Okinawa about plans to build a new US Marine Corps base on the island.

当时，在一个战争纪念仪式上发表讲话的安倍，遭到一些人的大声诘难，这些人高呼“战争贩子！”和“滚回家去！”。这些口号突显出冲绳民众对在该岛新建美海军陆战队基地的计划有多么愤慨。

But a NHK news bulletin just showed brief clips of Mr Abe’s appearance at the end of an item about the 70th anniversary of the second world war battle of Okinawa. Both NHK and the Yomiuri declined to comment on editorial decisions.

但NHK的新闻节目只是在一则关于二战冲绳战役70周年纪念活动的新闻的末尾，播出了安倍在此次活动中亮相的几个简短镜头。NHK和《读卖新闻》都拒绝就其编辑决策置评。

Concern about freedom of the press mounted after reports that the Culture and Arts study group of young LDP politicians, regarded as close to Mr Abe, had discussed ways to target hostile media at a meeting on June 25.

有报道称，由年轻自民党政客组成的“文化艺术恳话会”(Culture and Arts study group)曾在6月25日的一次会议上，讨论了对付敌对媒体的办法，这些年轻政客被认为与安倍关系密切。这则报道令人们更加担心日本的新闻自由状况。

“The most effective way to punish the mass media is to make them lose advertising revenue and to do so, the government should apply pressure on Keidanren [Japan’s main business body],” one participant was reported to have said.

据报道，一名与会者曾表示：“惩戒大众媒体的最有效方式，就是令它们失去广告收入。要做到这一点，政府应对日本经济团体联合会（Keidanren，日本主要商业团体）施加压力。”

Naoki Hyakuta, an author who spoke at the meeting, was quoted as saying that the two main Okinawa newspapers “must be closed down by any means”.

报道援引在会上发言的作家百田尚树(Naoki Hyakuta)的言论称，“必须动用一切手段关闭”冲绳的两家主要报纸。