Japan Press Weekly

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2014 August 20 - 26 [SOCIAL ISSUES]

1,527 former NHK employees stand up to oust Momii as president

Seven former NHK employees on August 21 petitioned the NHK management committee to give President Momii Katsuto a request for resignation or a notice of dismissal.

This is the first time that former employees of Japan’s public broadcaster have taken an action of this kind. The number of ex-NHK employees supporting the petition has reached 1,527.

Positions that the seven former employees held at NHK were director, NHK Germany office head, producer, and TV announcer.

At a press conference held after handing over the petition, they explained the reason for their act. They pointed out that it is a serious threat to NHK, which should be a network free from any political influence, that Momii, who remarked that NHK cannot say “left” when the government says “right”, is heading the network. They also said that due to Momii’s presence, NHK employees are now facing particular difficulties.

Murakami Nobuo, former announcer of NHK’s popular programs, expressed a compelling sense of duty as a person who used to work for the public broadcaster.

Ex-NHK producer Nagata Kozo, who received many awards for outstanding journalism, left NHK after an incident in which the company forced him to make some changes in his program regarding the “comfort women” issue.

Nagata said, “NHK should not move direction that causes general public to cynically criticize it for working as the government’s official news agency.”

Past related article:
> 172 ex-NHK workers demand removal of Momii [July 19, 2014]