Midori Suzuki
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(鈴木みどり 1941- July 23, 2006)
Midori Suzuki was a Japanese media educator, feminist and media researcher. She was professor of Media Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, Ritsumeikan University, Kyoto from 1994 until her death. Prof. Suzuki is known for her work on media literacy, especially several seminal textbooks and the over one hundred workshops, symposia and media watch projects that she facilitated. She also introduced overseas research to Japan (e.g. through translations of work by Jerry Mander, Catharine A. MacKinnon, the Ontario Teacher's Association and David Buckingham) and maintained an exceptionally high level of international networking. She was an active member of the World Association of Christian Communication (WACC), a co-founder and steering committee member of the Asian Network of Women in Communication (ANWIC), a long-term member of the International Association of Media and Communications Research (IAMCR), and on the International Exchange Committee of the Japan Society for Studies in Journalism and Mass Communication （日本マス・コミュニケーション学会)]. She also participated in UNESCO-sponsored research and projects and was involved in the Global Media Monitoring Project (1994, 2000 and 2005), for which she served as a steering committee member and a Japanese liaison.
Though Midori Suzuki had studied with Wilbur Schramm, one of 'the fathers of mass communication research' at Standford in the 1960s, she soon became critical of the 'mass communication' approach, especially the view of people as 'passive receivers' or consumers of information, instead developing a citizens-centered approach. Through her work with the Forum for Citizen's Television and Media (FCT), which she co-founded in 1977, she focussed on informed critique of commercial television programming, especially for children, as well as of gender stereotypes and other misconceptions and biases found in the mainstream Japanese media. Suzuki noted that "critical is creative" and saw media literacy as part of a bigger vision for media democratization. An early advocate for communication rights in Japan, she championed an active role for citizens in media society, including in policy making.
[edit] Published Work
(in Japanese)
Suzuki, Midori (1992) Terebi - dare no tame no media ka? (Television: Whose Medium?) Tokyo: Gakugeishorin.
Suzuki, Midori (Ed.) (1997) Media Literashi wo Manabu Hito no Tame ni (For People Learning Media Literacy) Kyoto: Sekai Shisou-sha.
Suzuki, Midori (1999) Johokashakai ni torikumu kuristoshatachi-WACC no katsudou to sono jissenrinri o chuushin ni (Christians taking on the information society- WACC and its applied ethics). In T. Kuribayashi (Ed.) Sekai ni ikiru (Living in the World), pp.265-285. Tokyo: Nihonkristokyodan Shuppankyoku.
Suzuki, Midori (Ed.) (2003) Study Guide Media Literacy [Jendaa hen] (Gender Approach). 2nd edition. Tokyo: Liberta
Suzuki, Midori (2004) Johokashakai: Digital Divide o chushin ni (Information Society: Focus on the Digital Divide). In S. Inoue, J. Sasaki, H. Tajima & H. Yamamoto (Eds.) Yokuboshakai, pp. 55-72. Tokyo: Nihonbyorishakaigakkai.
Suzuki, Midori (Ed.) (2004) Study Guide Media Literacy [Nyumonhen] (Introductory Approach). 2nd edition. Tokyo: Liberta
Suzuki, Midori (2004) Media Shakai no Ronri (Ethics of the Media Society). In Koichi Kasamatsu and Kazuyuki Wada (Eds.) 21 Seiki no Ronri (The Ethics in the 21st Century), pp.145-197. Tokyo:Hachiyo Shuppan.
