NHK "caves in" on sex slaves
Chris Betros
Wednesday, March 21, 2001 at 18:00 JST
TOKYO -- NHK, the Japan Broadcasting Corporation, is under fire for
revising the content of a sex slaves documentary it aired late January.
Yayori Matsui, the leader of Violence Against Women in
War-Network Japan (VAWW-NET Japan) that organised a mock Tokyo tribunal
last December on the wartime responsibility of Emperor Hirohito and the
Japanese military in the sex slave issue, blasted NHK for drastically
changing the contents of the program a few days before the broadcast
date. Matsui says there was no discussion about the changes.
NHK said it did not touch on the tribunal's ruling in the
interest of reconciliation between Japan and its Asian neighbours.
"They caved into pressure from ultranationalists and some
members of the Liberal Democratic Party," Matsui charged. "Now
these rightists are boasting a victory over NHK in the battle to stop
what they call a 'masochistic view of history.'"
The issue of sex slaves has long been a hot potato for the
Japanese media which usually refer to them as "comfort women."
NHK and other production company staff covered the Dec 8-12
Women's International War Crimes Tribunal and interviewed Matsui and
several professors supporting the tribunal.
The mock tribunal found Hirohito "guilty" of the
institutionalised sexual slavery system before and during World War II
and urged Japan to compensate victims. However, the tribunal had no
legal authority.
Matsui said that VAWW NET cooperated with NHK during the
preparation and proceedings of the tribunal because the broadcaster was
making a four part series titled "How Is War To Be Judged?"
The program in question was the second part in the series and
was aired on Jan 31. But on Jan 27 more than 30 ultranationalists barged
into NHK's offices in Tokyo's Shibuya district to demand cancellation of
the program.
Matsui claimed that NHK officials panicked and agreed to make
changes. The station also inserted an interview with a professor
critical of the tribunal after the 27th.
"After that, they cut comments by the trial's supporters,
making it four minutes shorter than the three other installments in the
series, without consulting us," she said.
Even worse, "there was no explanation of the core issue
of the tribunal, namely, who the defendants were and what verdict was
handed down." Nor were organisers given a chance to respond to the
argument put forward by the critical professor, she said.
Yasushi Higashizawa, lawyer for the VAWW-NET, described the
changes made to the program as a "threat to the freedom of the
press."
Matsui said she had repeatedly asked NHK to explain the
revisions. The broadcaster issued a statement on Feb 13 maintaining that
no change in content was made in response to pressure from any specific
organisation.
"We produced the program in accordance with the project
plan and editorial policy and aired it as originally planned," the
NHK statement said, adding it did not touch on the tribunal's ruling in
the interest of reconciliation between Japan and its Asian neighbours.
Matsui insisted the NHK program was supposed to show how
Japan's military sexual slavery constituted a crime against humanity.
However, a spokesman for NHK said the aim of the four part series was to
introduce worldwide activities concerning crimes against humanity,
apparently diverting the focus from the liability of the Japanese
military.
（出典） Japan
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