This article examines how the Asahi Shimbun finally admitted the fabrication of the coral reef incident only under external pressure from the Okinawa Divers Association. It details the disciplinary actions, the president’s resignation, internal reforms, and the newspaper’s continuing failure to seriously reflect on its own role as the perpetrator.

What finally brought this to light was an article bearing the headline, “The Coral Reef Coverage Was Fabricated — An Act for Which There Is No Excuse.”

At this point, Asahi at last confessed that from the very beginning the damage to the coral had been caused by the photographer himself, and that the photograph was an intentional fabrication.

The background to Asahi being driven into such a corner was the fact that the Okinawa Divers Association had prepared a detailed report on this incident and that it was about to be made public. This means that the clarification of the truth was not something that the Asahi Shimbun itself undertook proactively.

In view of the gravity of this incident, disciplinary measures were announced on May 20. The principal perpetrator of the fabrication, photographer Yoshirō Honda of the photo department, was dismissed (equivalent to summary dismissal). Noboru Ueno, a photographer at the West Japan headquarters who had accompanied Honda, was suspended for three months.

Senior executives were also held responsible for supervisory failure. Four individuals, including Executive Managing Director in charge of editorial affairs Toshitada Nakae, were subjected to pay cuts, and the deputy editor-in-chief of the West Japan headquarters received a formal reprimand. The ultimate person responsible, President Tōichirō Ichiyanagi, resigned as a result of this incident.

The shock of this case brought about reforms in the organization and structure of the Asahi Shimbun.

An internal notice dated September 20 announced the establishment of two new bodies: a Page Review Council and a Reader Public Relations Office.

Subsequently, on October 9, a lengthy comprehensive report titled “Investigation Report on the Coral Reef Damage Incident” was published.

Despite the extreme seriousness of this affair, the coral reef incident has now all but been forgotten.

Why is that?

Because the Asahi Shimbun itself does not give this incident any serious retrospective examination whatsoever.

As described in Chapter 1, the attack on the Hanshin Bureau that occurred two years earlier—an incident in which Asahi itself was the victim—has been revisited meticulously year after year, perhaps because the perpetrator remains unidentified.

However, in the case of the coral reef incident, in which the Asahi Shimbun was clearly the perpetrator, one almost never sees any retrospective articles at all.

To be continued.