Worries are growing in Japan about a trend of media self-censorship as journalists and experts say news organizations are toning down criticism of Prime Minister Shinzo Abes government for fear of sparking ire and losing access to sources.

No one is accusing Abes administration of overt meddling in specific news coverage, but media insiders and analysts say the governments message is getting through.

The media did, in recent years, play a much more positive role in making people in power squirm. In the Abe era, they have begun pulling back, said Jeffrey Kingston, director of Asian studies at Temple Universitys Japan campus.

There is a chilling atmosphere that encourages media organizations to exercise self-restraint.

The conservative Abe, who returned to office in 2012, had fraught media ties during his first term, which ended when he quit in 2007 after a year of scandals and ill-health.

This time, Abe wants to avoid the same mistake, experts say.

His appointee as chairman of NHK, Katsuto Momii, raised doubts about the respected broadcasters independence when he told his first news conference in early 2014: We cannot say left when the government says right.

Late last year, a ruling party aide to Abe wrote to television broadcasters ahead of an election demanding fair coverage. Many journalists took the letter as a signal they should dampen criticism or risk losing access to officials.

There have been cases of media self-restraint in the past, but they usually involved the Imperial family, or, as after the 2011 tsunami and nuclear disaster, when media adopted a sober tone, said Shinichi Hisadome, a foreign news editor at the Tokyo Shimbun, a feisty metropolitan daily regarded in media circles as less submissive than national media.

I think this is the first time that criticism of the government itself has been so restrained, Hisadome said.

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Japanese media self-censorship seen growing during Abes reign