 Distorted NHK TV program On January 30, 2001, public broadcaster NHK 's "ETV2001" aired a program focusing on the NGO-sponsored "Women's International War Crimes Tribunal" held in December 2000. The tribunal, sponsored by Violence against Woman in War-Network Japan (VAWW-NET Japan), adjudicated sexual violence by Japan's Imperial Army during World War II and for the first time convicted Emperor Hirohito (Emperor Showa). The program actually aired, however, deleted the segment on the tribunal's conviction of the Emperor. Moreover, footage of Japanese veterans' testimonies were replaced with unrelated ones, including an interview of a college professor denying the significance of the tribunal. The program was produced by Documentary Japan (DJ) at the request of NHK Enterprises 21, an NHK-affiliated firm. A few months after the broadcast, Hatta Hiroko, Japanese Communist Party member of the House of Councilors at that time, took up this excessive alteration of the program at an Upper House committee meeting, causing a sensation in the Diet. In July 2001, VAWW-NET Japan filed a lawsuit against NHK, NHK Enterprises 21, and DJ with the Tokyo District Court. In August that year, Lisa Yoneyama, an associate professor at University of California, San Diego, whose comment in the program was largely trimmed in a way that would mislead viewers, lodged a complaint to the Broadcast and Human Rights/Other Related Rights Committee (BRC), arguing that her rights as a scholar was infringed. The BRC in March 2003 issued an opinion that NHK's extreme editing was in violation of broadcast ethics. One year later, despite the revelation that perpetrators testimonies and the judgment convicting Emperor Hirohito had been in the footage, the court only ordered DJ to pay one million yen in compensation and acquitted NHK of responsibility. VAWW-NET Japan appealed to the upper court against this decision in April 2004. The case is still pending in court. (end) |