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War of words erupts in Japan media over television show on WWII sex slavery
January 17, 2005
Tokyo - Allegations that a Japanese public television network was pressured by
politicians to soft-pedal a program on Japan’s legacy of sexual enslavement
during World War II has pitted liberal Japanese media against their
conservative counterparts.
Liberal Japanese media have attacked Japan Broadcasting Corp., known also as
NHK, for leaving out large portions of interviews it had conducted with critics
of Japan’s wartime conduct and victims of sex slavery, allegedly after
discussions with senior political leaders.
But conservative newspapers have defended the decision to edit the original
program, saying that NHK executives have a duty to ensure fairness of their
programs.
“If NHK claims that it is a journalistic institution, not the government’s
public relations agency, it should investigate details of the case and
publicize the outcome,” the liberal Mainichi Shimbun newspaper said in an
editorial.
The controversy erupted last week over a 2001 program that featured a mock
trial on sex slavery in Japanese military brothels during World War II.
The event, hosted by a women’s rights group in Tokyo in December 2000, found
the late Emperor Hirohito guilty of allowing the slavery of so-called “comfort
women” during Japan’s occupation of Asian nations.
Historians say at least 200,000 young women, mostly Korean but also from
Taiwan, China, the Philippines and Indonesia, were forced to serve in frontline
Japanese army brothels during the war.
Just before the program was to be aired, senior NHK officials met with
lawmakers of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, Shinzo Abe and Shoichi
Nakagawa, who had expressed concerns over the program, according to the
program’s chief producer Satoru Nagai, who held a tearful news conference
Thursday as a whistle blower.
Top NHK officials then re-edited and shortened the program, Nagai said, adding
that: “NHK bowed to political pressure.”
Abe and Nakagawa admitted meeting with NHK officials and telling them to be
“fair” but strongly denied pressuring the broadcaster.
The liberal Asahi Shimbun newspaper, which broke the story on Wednesday, said
the incident violated the Broadcast Act that ensures freedom of broadcasting.
The scandal “reflected NHK’s close relations with political figures because the
organization needs the parliament’s approval to pass its annual budget,” the
Asahi said in an analysis.
NHK protested Friday against Asahi’s statements, saying the meetings with Abe
and Nakagawa had nothing to do with its editorial decisions.
“The Asahi Shimbun’s story distorts the facts to suggest we changed the program
due to political interference,” NHK said in a statement.
“We seriously protest it and demand an apology and correction,” it said.
In response, Asahi said it stood by its story, explaining the newspaper does
not believe its report distorted facts.
Following the exchange, the conservative Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper said
Saturday it was “natural” for NHK executives to ensure fairness of its
programs.
The mock trial was biased, and “if a program that matches the tone of such a
“trial’ were aired ... we would have found top NHK officials as extremely
irresponsible,” the Yomiuri said in its editorial.
“Journalism must be fair and balanced. That’s the duty of NHK.”
The Sankei Shimbun, also known for its vocal conservative stance, said the
foremost concern should be to examine the fairness of the program, and urged
careful judgement over NHK producer Nagai’s allegation of political pressure.
The Sankei also said the mock trial was biased and that Nagai’s claims are
based only on hearsay.
“The Asahi Shimbun and NHK should investigate the case further,” it said.
The Mainichi said, however, it was abnormal for a journalistic institution to
secretly explain the content of its stories to politicians before publication.
“Isn’t it normal for the public to regard any comment from politicians under
such a circumstance as “pressure’ and ’interference’?” the Mainichi said.
The women’s group which ran the mock trial, called Violence Against Women in
War, filed a lawsuit against NHK and two production companies over the
alterations in the original broadcast.
The Tokyo District Court ordered one of the two companies last March to pay one
million yen (9,500 US dollars) in compensation. Both the women’s group and the
production company have appealed the case in the Tokyo High Court.
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