More Than 8,000 Sue NHK for "Prejudiced Reporting" on Japanese Rule of Taiwan

Yomiuri and Yukan Fuji (by Fuji Sankei Group) reported this large-scale lawsuit against NHK's program on Taiwan under the Japanese colonial rule. Numerous right-wing organizations are involved with this,and spread the word to the general public to gather this many people as plaintiffs of the lawsuit. There has been lots of information going around, and while I am verifying their sources, I will first post translation of news by Yomiuri. I have a recorded DVD of this program on Taiwan, as part of the NHK's 3-year long project "Project Japan" When I first saw it, I was surprised to see how NHK bravely depicted the Japanese rule of Taiwan from the points of view from people of Taiwan. I had a similar reaction when I saw the Prologue of this series ”150 Years of Peace and Wars", in which the history of humanity's efforts to illegalize war was thoroughly illustrated with implication of Article 9 as its ultimate manifestation. So I am not surprised at all that these programs would be targets of right-wingers' attacks, but I did not expect them to take form of this massive lawsuit, and the censorship by members of LDP, which I reported in the previous post.

Here is the Yomiuri news.
Yomiuri Newspaper
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/entertainment/news/20090625-OYT1T00922.htm

「台湾統治で偏向報道」視聴者８千人がＮＨＫ提訴
More than 8,000 viewers sues NHK for "Prejudiced Reporting on Ruling of Taiwan"

日本の台湾統治を扱ったＮＨＫの番組を巡り、全国の視聴者約８３００人が２５日、「事実と異なる偏向報道が行われた」として、ＮＨＫに対し、１人あたり１万円の慰謝料を求める訴えを東京地裁に起こした。
8,300 viewers filed a lawsuit against NHK about their program that dealt with the Japanese rule of Taiwan, claiming "untruthful and prejudiced reporting" at the Tokyo District Court. Each plaintiff is asking for10,000 yen (approximately US$100) for compensation.

問題とされたのは、４月５日に放送された「シリーズＪＡＰＡＮデビュー」の第１回「アジアの“一等国”」。訴状によると、番組では台湾人に対する日本政府の弾圧や差別が描かれていたが、原告らが出演した台湾人に確認したところ、本人の意図が歪曲(わいきょく)されていたと主張。「ＮＨＫの手法は公平な報道を定めた放送法に違反する」と訴えている。
The program that was regarded problematic was "First-Class Country of Asia", the first of the series "Series Japan Debut". According to the complaint, the program depicted the oppression and discrimination against the people of Taiwan by the Japanese government, but when some of the plaintiffs checked with the people of Taiwan who were interviewed, the intention of the interviewees had been distorted. They claim that "NHK's approach is against the Broadcasting Law that stipulates fair reporting."

放送後、一部の原告がインターネットなどで視聴者に訴訟参加を呼び掛けた。
After this program was aired, some of the plaintiffs called for other viewers to join the lawsuit using the Internet and other media.

ＮＨＫ広報局の話「訴状を受け取っておらずコメントできない。番組内容には問題がなかったと考えている」
The Public Relations Department of NHK said, "We have not received the complaint yet, so we are unable to comment. We believe there was no problem with the content of the program."

（2009年6月25日22時05分 読売新聞）
(Yomiuri Newspaper, 22:05 PM, June 25, 2009)

In response to the viewers' feedback, NHK released further explanation on the contentious issues in the program on their website. http://www.nhk.or.jp/japan/asia/index.html I will try to post more detailed analysis of the content of the program as soon as possible.

Satoko