BPO finds NHK’s Olympic documentary violated broadcast ethics

Tokyo, Sept. 9 (Jiji Press)–A committee of the Broadcasting Ethics & Program Improvement Organization, or BPO, said on Friday that a documentary program related to the Tokyo Olympics produced and aired by public broadcaster NHK, or Japan Broadcasting Corp., included a serious violation of broadcasting ethics.

The program in question followed Japanese director Naomi Kawase and others involved in creating the official documentary film of the Tokyo Olympics last summer.

The show’s captions “a man who said he was taking part in an anti-Olympic demonstration” and “(he) revealed (he) was paid and mobilized” provoked questions from viewers.

The BPO committee concluded that the show portrayed a man who did not attend such a protest as if he did, blaming NHK for neglecting to check the facts.

The committee also found that NHK had edited and used the footage of the man speaking about a different protest as if he was talking about an anti-Olympic rally.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]