Japan's broadcaster punished for diluting sex slave program

Plaintiffs Rutsuko Shoji (L) and Rumiko Nishino (C) from Violence Against Women in War-Network Japan (VAWW-NET), accompanied by lead lawyer Masayoshi Iida (R), enter the Tokyo High Court for a trial on an appeal filed against Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK) in Tokyo January 29, 2007. Japan's public broadcaster was ordered by the court on Monday to pay compensation for changing a programme about Emperor Hirohito's wartime role after meeting with ruling party lawmakers including the current prime minister Shinzo Abe. REUTERS/Toshiyuki Aizawa (JAPAN)

Japan public TV loses court case involving PM Abe
29 Jan 2007 12:04:11 GMT
By George Nishiyama

TOKYO, Jan 29 (Reuters) - NHK, Japan's public broadcaster, changed a television programme discussing Emperor Hirohito's wartime role after an approach by government official Shinzo Abe, now the prime minister, the Tokyo High Court ruled on Monday.

Abe, who at the time was deputy chief cabinet secretary, has said he met NHK executives and asked them to be "fair" in the show, which covered a mock trial held in December 2000 that found Hirohito guilty of crimes against humanity.

NHK later aired the programme but omitted footage of the verdict, leading one of the organisers of the trial, Violence Against Women in War-Network Japan (VAWW-NET), to sue the broadcaster for failing to notify them of the changes.

The high court ordered NHK and two TV production firms on Monday to pay 2 million yen ($16,400) in redress to VAWW-NET, which had been seeking 40 million yen.

Abe had denied pressuring NHK, and the broadcaster said it had made the changes based on its own judgment.

An initial district court ruling declined to find NHK liable, saying the revisions were within its editing rights.

Monday's high court ruling found that NHK had made the changes out of consideration to Abe and other ruling party politicians, but said it could not prove whether the lawmakers had given specific instructions regarding the programme.

NHK is not funded by the government and relies on viewers' subscription fees for its revenue, but its budget needs parliamentary approval, leading to criticism that it is vulnerable to pressure, especially from the ruling party.

VAWW-NET staged the mock trial to attempt to convince the government to compensate women forced to work as "comfort women", or sex slaves, for the Japanese military during World War Two.

Plaintiffs hailed Monday's ruling as a victory, although they had sought redress totalling 40 million yen.

"I am surprised and overjoyed at the fact that the court has acknowledged this much," said Rumiko Nishino, VAWW-NET's co-chairwoman.

"I think the court has tacitly pointed out that because NHK felt pressure, it revised the show," she told a news conference.

NHK called the ruling "unjust" and said it would appeal.

"We edited it from a fair standpoint and to make clear the many different views on the issue, so the court's judgment is unjust and we absolutely cannot accept it," the network said in a statement.

Abe said Monday's ruling had shown that politicians including himself did not put pressure on the public broadcaster. "It was made clear by the ruling that politicians had not intervened," he told reporters.

Abe has made controversial comments in the past about Japan's wartime actions, including questioning the involvement of its government and military in running the battlefield brothels.

But as prime minister since September, he has softened his stance on World War Two history, helping to improve ties with China and South Korea, both victims of Japanese aggression. ($1=121.69 Yen) (Additional reporting by Teruaki Ueno)

Japan's broadcaster punished for diluting sex slave program

TOKYO (AFP) - Japan's public broadcaster was ordered to compensate a women's rights group Monday after producers toned down a program on World War II sex slavery, following pressure from Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

The Tokyo High Court ordered the NHK network and two companies which produced the program to pay a total of two million yen ($16,700) to the group for "moral damage" caused by the alteration.

The program was about a mock war tribunal, which was organised by the group in 2000, that found late wartime Emperor Hirohito guilty of crimes against humanity for allowing the army to run brothels for soldiers.

Historians say at least 200,000 young women, mostly Korean but also from Taiwan, China, the Philippines and Indonesia, were forced to serve as sex slaves, known as "comfort women," in Japanese army brothels.

The 2000 "verdict" was handed down by an international panel of four judges led by Gabrielle McDonald, the former president of the international war crimes tribunal on the former Yugoslavia.

Abe, then the deputy chief cabinet secretary, and fellow conservative politician Shochi Nakagawa, now policy chief of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, have admitted asking NHK to be "neutral" in covering the mock trial.

The verdict on Hirohito, who died in 1989, and some testimony from former soldiers were deleted from the program when it was broadcast in January 2001.

High Court presiding judge Toshifumi Minami declined to criticize Abe and Nakagawa, saying they had only told NHK executives to be "fair and neutral."

"The NHK executives took the advice excessively seriously," Minami said. "They altered the program by judging the meaning of the advice and making it harmless to anyone."

But Satoru Nagai, a former NHK production staffer who blew the whistle on the case, had testified that Abe demanded that the program be cancelled.

In 2004, the Tokyo District Court ordered one of the production companies to pay one million yen to the group over the case. Both the defendants and plaintiffs had appealed the case.

Abe, 52, became prime minister last September with pledges to make Japan a more "assertive" nation proud of its history.

Monday January 29, 5:15 PM
High court orders NHK redress over sex-slave 'trial' program
(Kyodo)

The Tokyo High Court on Monday ordered Japan Broadcasting Corp. and two TV production companies to pay 2 million yen in compensation to a women's rights group over a 2001 television program on Japan's wartime sex slavery.

The court acknowledged that the national broadcaster known as NHK altered the contents of the program, which was based on a mock tribunal organized by the group on the issue of so-called "comfort women," after taking into account the remarks of politicians, but it fell short of recognizing intervention by Shinzo Abe, who is now prime minister, or other senior politicians.

NHK said it will immediately take steps to appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court.

Presiding Judge Toshifumi Minami said the broadcaster's senior officials thought the program could affect the Diet's approval of NHK's budget plan and "took the words of parliamentary members more seriously than necessary and guessed their intentions, and changed the program to a safer content."

He further said the program aired by NHK had "betrayed the trust and expectations of the plaintiff" as it significantly deviated from what had been explained to the plaintiff beforehand.

The judge also said NHK failed to fulfill its obligation to explain the changes to the plaintiff sufficiently.

But the ruling fell short of recognizing the plaintiff's claim that politicians, including then Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Abe, directly intervened in the editing of the program.

Members of Violence Against Women in War-Network Japan (VAWW-NET Japan), nonetheless, called the ruling "an overall win" for the group and expressed joy.

Rumiko Nishino, the group's co-leader, said, "I was nervous that if this ruling certified that the case still falls within the range of NHK's editing rights, political interventions would be overlooked under the name of editing...But I am happy now."

Rutsuko Shoji, also co-leader of the group, said, "We want NHK to read the ruling and apologize to us, and we want them to broadcast from a citizen's point of view."

The group, which organized the Women's International War Crimes Tribunal in December 2000, initially sought 20 million yen in damages at the Tokyo District Court saying its members felt betrayed because the defendants in the suit reedited the program without explanation to the group.

It then raised the compensation claim to 40 million yen at the appeals court, arguing that NHK bore heavy responsibility for allowing political intervention.

The group helped the defendants produce the program in which the late Emperor Hirohito was found guilty by a mock tribunal of crimes against humanity for accepting institutionalized sex slavery. The sex slaves, mostly from Korea, were referred to as comfort women by the Japanese authorities.

Abe has admitted urging NHK to alter the program as he felt the contents were "biased," but he denied having pressured the broadcaster and NHK has also said it made the changes in the course of regular editing operations and on its own initiative.

The reedited program omitted certain elements, including the mock tribunal's "guilty" verdict on the late emperor, who is posthumously known as Emperor Showa, testimonies by former soldiers and the name of the event organizer.

The group also said during the appeals court hearings that the reediting of the program would lead to a further coverup of the issue of wartime sex slavery and tolerance of political interventions.

The mock tribunal was intended to urge the Japanese government to take legal responsibility and to compensate women forced into sexual slavery for the Japanese military before and during World War II, according to the group.

The "ruling" by the mock tribunal was handed down by a panel of four judges led by Gabrielle McDonald, the former president of the International War Crimes Tribunal on the Former Yugoslavia.

In March 2004, the Tokyo District Court ordered one of the production companies to pay 1 million yen to the group over the case, leading the company and the advocacy group to file appeals. The district court dismissed the group's demands for redress from NHK and the other production company.

Abe and Shoichi Nakagawa, another senior lawmaker from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, were reported to have pressured NHK to refrain from broadcasting the content that was later removed.

NHK is chiefly funded by viewers' subscription fees. Its budget and business plan require parliamentary approval. The government also provides funds to NHK's international shortwave radio service and is authorized by law to issue orders on what to air on its international shortwave radio programs.

Under Abe's administration, the government issued an unprecedented order to NHK in November to place emphasis on the issue of North Korean agents' past abduction of Japanese nationals in its international shortwave radio service.

NHK Fined For Toning Down Special On "Comfort Women"
January 29, 2007 8:46 a.m. EST
Komfie Manalo - All Headline News Correspondent

Tokyo, Japan (AHN) - The Tokyo High Court on Monday slapped Japanese broadcasting giant NHK with a $16,000 penalty to compensate a women's rights group after it was found guilty of toning down a program on World War II sex slavery, because of pressure coming from Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

The court said the NHK network, and the producers of the program to pay the women's group "moral damage" for altering the facts in the special.

The program, which was aired in 2000, depicts a mock tribunal which found late Japanese emperor Hirohito guilty of crimes against humanity for ordering Japanese soldiers to maintain brothels and forced Asian women as their sex slaves.

An estimated 200,000 young women from Korea, Taiwan, China, Philippines and Indonesia were forced to serve as sex slaves, also known as "comfort women," during World War II for the Japanese army.

The 2000 "verdict" was handed down by an international panel of four judges led by Gabrielle McDonald, the former president of the international war crimes tribunal on the former Yugoslavia.

Abe, who at the time was serving as chief cabinet secretary and Shochi Nakagawa, who now serves as the policy chief of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, have admitted approaching NHK and asked the network to be "neutral" in covering the mock trial.

In the toned down broadcast of NHK, the verdict on Hirohito and several testimonies from former soldiers were deleted from the program.

High Court presiding judge Toshifumi Minami refused to penalize Abe and Nakagawa as they merely told NHK officials to be "fair and neutral."

Minami said, "The NHK executives took the advice excessively seriously. They altered the program by judging the meaning of the advice and making it harmless to anyone."