The head of Japan’s public broadcaster told lawmakers Friday he was
sorry for saying the Japanese Imperial Army’s system of wartime sex
slavery was commonplace, and pledged he would safeguard the network’s
neutrality.
Katsuto Momii apologized for “causing trouble” when he said last
weekend that the practice of forcibly drafting women into military
brothels during World War II was “common in any country at war”.
Momii, who was recently appointed to head one of the world’s biggest
broadcasters, blamed his inexperience for the gaffe at his inaugural
press conference.
“I was not familiar with that kind of opportunity… from now on I will do my job based on the Broadcast Act,” he said.
“NHK will broadcast programs based on the principles of political
neutrality, fairness and freedom of expression that are written in the
Broadcast Act. My personal view will not be reflected in programs,” he
said.
Momii, 70, was reportedly Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s choice for the
influential role. Critics say his apparent willingness to cleave to the
government’s position is worrying for Japan’s democracy at a time of
rising nationalism.
In comments he later tried to retract, he told reporters last week
that NHK’s international programs should follow the official state line.
“We can’t say it is left if the government says it is right,” he said, adding he had the final say on the network’s output.
Momii’s appearance before a Diet committee came as NHK fended off
accusations of interference after it told an academic not to talk about
nuclear power in the run-up to the election for the post of Tokyo
governor next month.
The election is seen as a contest between a candidate backed by the
pro-nuclear government, and a former premier who wants all of Japan’s
reactors permanently shuttered.
Toru Nakakita, a Cambridge-educated economist and professor at Toyo
University, who regularly provides commentary on an NHK radio program,
told local media he had resigned after a producer warned him to avoid
the issue.
The academic said he had been planning to comment on the costs of
nuclear if the risk of accidents is included, during the Thursday
morning slot.
But after reviewing a draft of his script, the producer asked him to
steer clear of the topic for the duration of the election campaign.
The broadcaster said Friday it had only done so because it was not able to book a pro-nuclear guest as a balance to his views.
“We asked the professor to drop the nuclear issue because we have to
ensure fairness during the election campaign where nuclear power is one
of the issues,” a spokeswoman for NHK told AFP.
“It’s theoretically possible for us to introduce both an anti-nuclear
opinion and the opposite opinion during the campaign period, but in
this case it was not possible to book an expert with the opposite view
for the same program,” she said.
Nakakita told Jiji Press and other media that he had explained he was
not supporting a particular candidate, but NHK rejected his script,
saying it could affect voting behavior.
No comments:
Post a Comment