Pismo Aidana Whitea, glavog tajnika IFJ-a, povodom bojkota japanskih gledatelja Tv postaje NHK

12.01.2005.

 Mr. Kunio Ishihara, Chairman

NHK Board Governors.

NHK Broadcasting Center

2-2-1 Jinnan Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150-8001 Japan                                                                 

January 12^th 2005

Dear Mr Ishihara,

On behalf of the International Federation of Journalists, the world’s largest journalists’ group, I write to express our profound concern over recent events at NHK.

The public exposure of internal scandals at NHK has damaged public confidence in the station and we are surprised that, after many months of controversy, Mr Katsuji Ebisawa the President has failed to recognise adequately the perilous conditions facing the company.

We believe that the credibility and integrity of NHK, one of the world’s leading public broadcasters is at stake. Like our colleagues in the membership of Nipporo, someone must take responsibility for the mistakes that have been made and the NHK Board of Governors must act to restore public confidence.

We support, therefore, the call by Nipporo for the resignation of Mr Ebisawa. We are convinced that this is essential to recover public support and to improve the morale of all of those working for the company.

As you may know the IFJ campaigns world-wide for genuine public broadcasting and we are dismayed at events at NHK which, until these difficult days, has been a model of a pluralist, professional and high-quality service.

When we see the impact on public opinion after recent scandals we are deeply concerned at the failure to confront the damaging loss of public support which, unless urgently dealt with, could jeapordise the financial future of the station. Indeed, I have been personally surprised at the public complacency displayed by management over the recent crisis.

On his web site, Mr Katsuji Ebisawa says that the loss of 113,000 NHK viewers who are refusing to pay or withholding payment of the license fee on account of the corruption scandals as of the end of November “cannot be interpreted as definite non-payment.” In any other responsible body such a staggering loss of public support would be properly acknowledged.

The IFJ believes that broadcasters have a responsibility to ensure that their actions are transparent, that they provide full disclosure and that they demonstrate high standards of professionalism in administration. However, we note the concerns expressed by Nipporo that NHK has not acted in line with these standards in dealing with the events of recent months.

Last year you will recall that senior officers of the BBC resigned in quite different circumstances and which, in the end, we believe did not justify their resignation. Even so, these resignations did demonstrate an honourable level of corporate and collective responsibility.

It is frankly astonishing that at NHK, where serious errors have been made and admitted, that the senior management of the station, after apologising, has not taken responsibility and acted accordingly. As a result, public service values in broadcasting are undermined.

Could I ask you to pass on the concern of the IFJ and its member organisations about this matter and I reiterate our full support for the colleagues of Nipporo at NHK who rightly demand a public demonstration of NHK’s determination to restore NHK’s deserved reputation as a public service broadcaster.

 

Yours Sincerely,

AIDAN WHITE, General Secretary 

 

 

Povratak