When the leaders of a serious Japanese broadcaster stepped all the way down to take duty for the botched dealing with of a sexual assault allegation, it was alleged to be a ritual present of regret in company Japan. As an alternative, the information convention to announce the resignations changed into a marathon show of social outrage as executives confronted a public grilling that lasted 10 hours.
The president and chairman of Fuji Tv resigned on Monday night time after acknowledging they mishandled an incident during which a star TV host admitted paying hush cash to an unnamed lady for an incident that happened in June 2023. The case has plunged the broadcaster into monetary disaster as main firms pulled adverts to protest Fuji TV’s failure to take motion, regardless of studying of the incident proper after it occurred.
The advert boycott has changed into a watershed second, directing public anger towards not solely the TV star, Masahiro Nakai, a former member of a celebrated boy idol band who later turned a preferred present host, but in addition his employer. Fuji TV has confronted allegations that employees helped organize the unique encounter with the girl and that administration regarded the opposite approach as Mr. Nakai tried to cowl it up.
In company Japan, it’s accepted observe for high executives to reply to damaging scandals with resignations, often delivered with deep bows of contrition earlier than banks of flashing cameras. However on this case, they did not appease a way of concern that was shared by many on the information convention, which drew some 400 journalists and others to Fuji TV’s futuristic silver headquarters constructing on Tokyo Bay.
“Fuji thought the president and chairman’s stepping down can be sufficient, however their logic was flawed,” mentioned Takahiko Kageyama, a media professor at Doshisha Girls’s School of Liberal Arts who researches the leisure trade. “As an alternative, it gave an impression that the executives have been making an attempt to cover one thing.”
On the occasion, which Fuji TV broadcast reside in its entirety, the corporate’s president, Koichi Minato; its chairman, Shuji Kano; and different firm executives confronted demanding questions and offended harangues that stretched late into the night time. As most of the audio system launched into lengthy lectures, the executives maintained expressions of solemn penitence.
At instances, the information convention devolved right into a shouting match: Audio system yelled over one another to demand that the corporate clarify its habits and reveal extra. There was not less than one 15-minute rest room break, after which everybody took their seats to proceed the grilling.
Fuji TV threw open the doorways after dealing with criticism that it was being insufficiently clear, having solely included chosen media when it held an earlier information convention. Whereas many attendees recognized themselves as representing established native media, others mentioned they have been freelancers and social media influencers.
Fuji TV’s president mentioned the corporate, which has its personal broadcast information operation, was responding to criticism that it was holding itself to a double normal.
“Our firm has used our personal cameras to pursue suspicious habits,” Mr. Minato instructed the auditorium. “We take to coronary heart the criticism that we’re avoiding the cameras of others. We’re keenly conscious that this has shaken our credibility.”
The case got here to gentle final month after a weekly tabloid uncovered the cost by Mr. Nakai, 52, who introduced his retirement from present enterprise final week. The tabloid, known as Josei Seven, reported that Mr. Nakai had precipitated “severe bother” with the girl that resulted in him paying her 90 million yen, or virtually $600,000.
Mr. Nakai has acknowledged that an “incident” happened, for which he made a settlement of an unspecified quantity. Whereas he supplied no particulars, subsequent media stories mentioned the incident was a non-consensual sexual act. Mr. Nakai has mentioned he used no violence, and there was no official investigation, however the case has struck a nerve in Japan for exposing an excessive model of issues confronted by ladies within the office.
A ten-hour information convention is as remarkable in Japan as it might be in most different nations. Regardless of the size, Fuji TV revealed few new particulars on Monday, saying that the incident can be investigated by an impartial committee. Most of the feedback handled Fuji TV’s resolution to proceed using Mr. Nakai as a number of its exhibits and for failing to guard the girl.
In response to questions, Fuji TV’s president mentioned he didn’t make huge adjustments to programming to keep away from “agitating” the sufferer, although he admitted that, in hindsight, this was in all probability a mistake. Mr. Minato additionally refused to say whether or not the sufferer was an worker of Fuji TV, although he did say that he met along with her after the incident.
“Sadly, she was not in a position to return to work as she had hoped,” the president mentioned, “however she got here to say goodbye as a result of she was leaving work of her personal volition.”
Throughout the information convention, questions additionally centered on the whereabouts of the person who constructed Fuji TV into an leisure large, and who consultants mentioned laid in place the male-dominated tradition underlying its present issues. Hisashi Hieda, the 87-year-old former president of Fuji TV who’s now chairman of its guardian firm, Fujisankei Communications Group, didn’t seem at both information convention and has but to talk out on the scandal threatening the corporate.
Whereas the Fuji TV executives mentioned on Monday that Mr. Hieda performed no function within the present scandal, observers mentioned the resignations have been not less than partly an effort to defend him from scrutiny.
“This ritual was about defending the established order by providing two scapegoats as an alternative,” mentioned Igor Prusa, a researcher at Metropolitan College Prague who wrote a e book on the dealing with of scandals in Japan.
