Fuji TV Controlled Information, Continued Programs Despite Learning of Scandal Involving Masahiro Nakai
7:00 JST, January 29, 2025
Fuji Television Network, Inc. (Fuji TV) has again denied that one of its employees was involved in a scandal connected to retired TV personality Masahiro Nakai, although Koichi Minato, the broadcaster’s outgoing president, admitted that Fuji TV did not treat the woman concerned properly.
Many companies have suspended their commercials on Fuji TV following media reports of Nakai’s alleged sexual misconduct against the woman and the alleged involvement of a Fuji TV employee in the issue.
Fuji TV announced the resignation of its top executives, including Minato, at a press conference Monday.
‘Prioritized woman’s privacy’
Minato and other officials repeatedly said at the press conference that they “prioritized the woman’s privacy.”
They claimed that when they learned about the issue from the woman in June 2023, they felt the matter should be kept highly confidential and decided to limit the number of officials who knew about it. As a result, only a few Fuji TV officials were aware of the matter.
Fuji TV did not officially question Nakai. At the Monday press conference, they said that if they had conducted an investigation, more people would have learned about the issue. Some people also thought that if Nakai contacted the woman again, it would have caused her further hurt, the officials claimed.
As to why Fuji TV continued to broadcast a regular program hosted by Nakai after the issue came to light, the officials said they were concerned about speculation that might be spurred by ending the program.
Fuji TV could have halted the show when another TV personality who co-hosted it with Nakai suspended his show business activities in 2024. However, the broadcaster changed the name of the program and continued to air it.
By limiting the number of company officials who knew about the scandal, Fuji TV allowed Nakai to appear on one-off TV programs as well.
Fuji TV has an in-house compliance office and made sure to share information with the office whenever problems occurred with business partners. However, officials at the press conference said the Nakai situation was not shared with the office.
“We prioritized the woman’s mental and physical condition, while she herself wanted to keep the information to as few people as possible,” Minato said. “Doctors who treated her agreed with us. We thought it would be the best for a small number of people to support and care for her until she went back to work.”
“Now I think we should have helped her more. While we handled the issue as a special case, I regret that we didn’t handle it differently,” he added.
Asked about whether their handling of the issue was appropriate, the executives often said they wanted to leave that judgement to an investigation by a third-party committee.
Megumi Morisaki, the representative director of Arts Workers Japan, said: “These executives said they prioritized the woman’s privacy and her mental and physical recovery. However, this kind of approach means things would go on like nothing happened, even after the woman who was victimized went back to work.
“I wonder if the broadcaster took any measures to address the situation. They could have done many things more quickly.”
Governance
The resignation of two executives, Minato and Shuji Kano, 74, the chairman of Fuji TV and its parent company Fuji Media Holdings, Inc., was announced at the press conference. Minato said: “I am fully responsible for what happened. The entire company’s governance failed to work properly due to my own lack of awareness of human rights.”
However, some Fuji TV employees say the resignation of all executives might be the only way to rebuild the company.
There were also many questions about the responsibility of Hisashi Hieda, 87, an executive managing advisor of Fuji TV and Fuji Media Holdings.
Hieda became an executive managing director of Fuji TV in 1983 and served as president from 1988 to 2001. In 2003, he became head of the Fujisankei Communications Group, one of the nation’s biggest media conglomerates comprising The Sankei Shimbun, Nippon Broadcasting System Inc., and other companies.
He has been an executive managing advisor of Fuji TV and Fuji Media Holdings since 2017. “Hieda still has a strong influence in the appointment of directors, which makes it difficult for employees to propose corporate culture reforms,” a former senior official at Fuji TV said.
A final report will be submitted by the third-party committee as early as the end of March. Mentioning the report, Fuji TV Vice Chairman Ryunosuke Endo, 68, said at the press conference, “I think each executive will take their share of responsibility around the time the report is submitted.”
Endo indicated the possibility of multiple executive officers, including Hieda, resigning in the future.
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