TV Asahi defends secret recording of top bureaucrat’s indecent remarks

April 25, 2018

Tokyo- TV Asahi Corp. President Gengo Sunami on Tuesday expressed understanding that one of the Japanese broadcaster's female reporters made a voice recording of sexually explicit remarks allegedly by the country's top finance bureaucrat during their one-on-one meeting at a bar in Tokyo this month.

"The purpose (of the voice recording) was to serve the public interest, so I understand her intention," Sunami told a regular press conference.

Weekly magazine Shukan Shincho reported the alleged sexual harassment by then Vice Finance Minister Junichi Fukuda in its April 12 edition and exposed the recorded remarks claimed to have been made by him the following day.

Fukuda offered to step down last week while denying that he made the remarks in question. The government approved his resignation on Tuesday.

During the press conference, the TV Asahi chief urged the Finance Ministry to fully investigate the case.

Finance Minister Taro Aso told reporters on the day, "There are various opinions (about the alleged sexual harassment) out there, including one pointing to the possibility that he (Fukuda) may have been framed."

Former education minister Hakubun Shimomura has reportedly said in an unofficial setting that the secret recording was "a sort of crime."

Later, Shimomura admitted that he made the remark and retracted it. Still, he claimed that secretly recording off-the-record conversations violates journalistic ethics.

According to the TV Asahi chief, the female reporter had avoided meeting with Fukuda alone since she felt sexually harassed by him about a year ago. But she met with Fukuda early this month as she needed to do so as part of her job.

The TV Asahi employee leaked the audio data to Shukan Shincho after her boss refused to report the matter on the national television network.

At the news conference, Sunami said that the information leak by the employee was "regrettable," while noting that the company is reflecting on its failure to take organizational action in response to her complaint about the sexual harassment.

The TV Asahi president said the company plans to launch a special task force to review the company's compliance control system.

Sunami added that the company had no intention to cover up the sexual harassment complaint. Jiji Press