INSIDE JAPAN from our view

NHK head apologizes for reporter's arrest in attempted arson  Kyodo News : NHK President Genichi Hashimoto offered an apology Sunday for one of the public broadcaster's reporters who was arrested on suspicion of setting fire at a construction site in Kishiwada, Osaka Prefecture. Appearing on a TV program, Hashimoto said, "We deeply apologize to those affected, relevant parties, and our viewers and listeners." As a penalty, Hashimoto said in a press conference later Sunday that he will give up 30% and three other executives 10% of their monthly salaries for the next three months.

 NHK is the biggest broadcasting company in Japan. It is organized in public sector like BBC in England. NHK collects money from all viewers or all people who have TV. It costs them about 200 US dollars a year. Since there are so many private TV company and NHK’s programs are so conservative, nearly 40% viewers are now rejecting to pay for the fee.

 This rejection began to happen a few years ago. For more than a half century, NHK has been untouched by Japanese Government so the workers and managers became selfish and started losing their credit slowly. NHK had been long considered to be a symbol of Japanese mass media. And its reliability helped Japanese to feel like paying the fee. But the successive arrests make people be mad. The momentum is so strong that some 60% think that they do not need NHK at all according to a survey of one of major newspaper.

 Now Japanese government pushes forward to reform public companies like Japan Post or other public banks. NHK has been the only exception because it is a broadcast company that is the last industry government should tackle . But now is the time to begin to talk about NHK.