The Yuri Group, a firm specializing in consulting, energy, finance and digital technologies, stands out in Japan’s media landscape by not only filling a niche, but doing so with credibility, depth and impartiality.
Magdalena Osumi, the firm’s clean energy analyst and a journalist with over a decade of experience, previously worked for The Japan Times. The newspaper is Japan’s largest English-language publication and is particularly committed to publishing without bias, a difficult goal within the country’s complex media environment.
“All these Japanese newspapers, like in many countries, they all have some political leanings,” Osumi said. “It’s hard to find a very neutral source.”
In fact, the Yomiuri Shimbun—the world’s largest newspaper by daily circulation, with over 5.7 million copies sold each morning as of December 2024—has a traditionally conservative-right leaning. The Asahi Shimbun, founded in 1879 and the second largest in Japan in print circulation, is known for its liberal and progressive views. This aligns with Japan’s history with the Liberal Democratic Party, which is not only the country’s largest political party, but one that has been in power almost continuously since 1955.
In many countries, political parties come to power through democratic elections. Yuriy Humber, president of the Yuri Group, explained how this can blur the line between public consensus and media alignment.
“If the party in power has the majority votes, that’s what people agree with generally,” Humber said. “So then if the newspaper agrees with the government, they’re kind of agreeing with what the majority of the people voted for, and more and more people are not looking for information—or even entertainment—they’re looking for confirmation.”
This environment gives rise to a form of reporting known as access journalism: journalism that prioritizes relationships with powerful and influential figures over objectivity, investigative depth or editorial independence.
“The newspapers want to have access to the people in government who are making decisions, and maybe it’s a cynical ploy, or just a pragmatic way of doing business,” Humber said.
Access journalism is institutionalized in Japan through the system of kisha clubs—exclusive associations of reporters from major outlets who are granted privileged access to institutions like government ministries, police departments and large corporations. These clubs provide a designated space for briefings and press releases, but the closed nature of the system raises concerns about transparency, fairness and bias.
Self-censorship is also a concern, as kisha club journalists may soften their reporting to avoid jeopardizing relationships with sources. Japan’s limited media independence and lack of investigative depth is reflected in its ranking in the 2024 World Press Freedom Index: 66th out of 180 countries—the lowest among the G7 nations.
Within this landscape, the Yuri Group has carved out a unique space.
“So what is our competitive advantage?” Humber said. “It is, well, a lot of different things, but most of it, even though it’s not something that immediately pays, is being trusted, reliable.”
The firm’s platform, Japan NRG, launched in 2020, and provides intelligence and analysis on Japanese energy policy, industry trends, markets and research and development. Despite being a small team of 12—including only two main editors and three key analysts—the firm has grown significantly under a subscription-based model. Its in-depth reporting now serves high-profile clients such as BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager.
Moreover, Humber’s background as a business editor for the St. Petersburg Times in Russia is reflected in the platform’s organizational structure: The platform is split into two key sections: analysis and news. The analysis section distills detailed research reports into quick and concise insights, while the news side includes brief headlines to keep subscribers up-to-date on current events.
Humber emphasized the need for accuracy, stating that their credibility—slowly built over time—is a factor in their continued success in a media environment that often struggles with trust and transparency.
But journalistic integrity faces another challenge: artificial intelligence.
In addition to relevance, brevity and impartiality, Humber stressed the need for human-created journalism. He advised young journalists to not cut corners or rely too heavily on AI tools.
“If you’re not able to be somewhat in control of the new intelligence that is emerging—meaning being able to check and verify that it is right—if you’re not even in control of that because you’ve outsourced your abilities to a program, no one’s going to employ you,” Humber said. “Because they can employ the program.”
While AI can serve as a useful tool, Humber emphasized that it should never replace the fundamentals of reporting: fact-checking, critical thinking and thorough editing.
“The menial jobs—the really painful stuff that you’ll do today—that help you learn, is absolutely important,” Humber said.
He encouraged journalists to treat their instincts like a muscle, constantly trained through practice, observation and analysis. Developing the ability to go beyond a prompt, to connect dots and craft coherent narratives, is something AI is unlikely to replicate.
While human behavior contributes to the networking that fuels access journalism and the exclusivity of kisha clubs, effective storytelling still requires emotional intelligence, nuance and ethical responsibility—traits that only human journalists can deliver.
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