This chapter argues that a public broadcaster must disclose who decides news editing and prohibit commentators from political opinions if such transparency is impossible.

The chapter calls for transparency at a public broadcaster, insisting that editorial decision-makers be identified and that political commentary be barred unless accountability is ensured.

2017-06-27
This is a continuation of the previous chapter.
The shoddiness and maliciousness of the coverage on Okinawa aired on last Friday’s NHK Watch 9—its immaturity matching that of Asahi Shimbun, and its persistence born of a distorted ideology—were unmistakable.
Anyone with a sound mind who watched it must have been appalled.
I had already expressed my concern about how Kuwako Maho and Arima Yoshio would conduct themselves on the late-night news check, and those concerns proved justified.
By last Friday, their inadequacy had turned into certainty.
Arima appears to share the same self-deprecating mindset, pseudo-moralism, and Marxism found at Asahi Shimbun—though he may merely be voicing what the forces now dominating NHK’s news division intend him to say.
What I find most intolerable is their apparent imitation of TV Asahi’s News Station: Arima mimicking Furutachi Ichiro, and Kuwako imitating that fervent Asahi adherent.
When Kuwako speaks about the government or Prime Minister Abe, her gaze is strikingly similar.
I have written that everything begins with individuals.
Buildings do not speak; neither do the proper nouns “Asahi Shimbun” or “NHK.”
Yet NHK is a state broadcaster.
Those who determine the editing of news must have their names and backgrounds disclosed.
If that cannot be done, NHK must not allow Kuwako or Arima to comment in any way on domestic or international politics or diplomacy.
They should report events only, without any ideologically skewed editing, and anchors should read facts alone.
It goes without saying that NHK must not permit commentary that echoes the views of Chongryon elites or holders of distorted ideologies on a state broadcaster.
In the first place, Kuwako and Arima should not be people of such inclinations.