NHK head warned over program on Japan post insurance sales

September 26, 2019

Tokyo--The Board of Governors of Japan Broadcasting Corp., or NHK, gave a warning to NHK President Ryoichi Ueda in October 2018 over a program on inappropriate sales practices involving Japan Post Insurance Co. <7181> products, it was learned Thursday.

The warning came after a request submitted by the Japan Post Holdings Co. <6178> group to the board, informed sources said.

NHK opted not to broadcast a sequel to the program, possibly influenced by the Japan Post group's complaint.

The program, aired on April 24, 2018, by NHK, highlighted improper insurance sales by post office employees. A scandal over inappropriate sales involving Japan Post Insurance and Japan Post Co., which operates post offices throughout Japan, eventually surfaced this year.

To gather material for a sequel to the program, NHK in early July last year posted online a video inviting people who bought the insurance products in question and post office workers to provide the public broadcaster with information.

In writing, the Japan Post group asked Ueda to take down the video, saying it gave an impression that criminal sales acts were being committed on an organizationwide basis, according to the sources.

At the time, officials of the program told the Japan Post group that program production and management were separated, and that Ueda was not involved in creating programs.

Dissatisfied with this explanation, the Japan Post group asked Ueda in writing for clarification, pointing out that under Japan's Broadcast Act, the NHK president has ultimate responsibility for program production and editing, and that the officials' statements show that governance is not functioning within NHK.

NHK did not broadcast a sequel and deleted the video.

As it did not initially receive an answer from NHK, the Japan Post group requested in writing in October last year that the board review the broadcaster's governance system.

Judging that the program officials erred in claiming that the NHK president does not hold responsibility for program production, the board reprimanded Ueda and instructed him to strengthen the broadcaster's governance system, the sources said.

In his reply to the Japan Post group in November, Ueda acknowledged that the officials' statements were unsatisfactory.

"It's not the case that (NHK's) independence and autonomy, or freedom in program editing, have been impaired," a public relations official at NHK said. Jiji Press