This essay reflects on the author’s deepened doubts about NHK’s news coverage after seeing an NHK 7 p.m. news segment on former LDP lawmaker Sato Tsutomu’s spring decoration, in which Tsujimoto Kiyomi appeared prominently on screen. It argues that NHK’s news and variety programming should be separated from sports, nature documentaries, BBC productions, and dramas in the viewer fee system.

Published on April 29, 2026.
A short while ago, I was half-watching NHK’s 7 p.m. news.
When I saw the footage about former House of Representatives member and former LDP lawmaker Sato Tsutomu receiving a spring decoration, because I was only half-watching, for a moment I thought, “Surely Tsujimoto Kiyomi has not received a decoration?”
That was because Tsujimoto was shown prominently in the center of the screen.
When I saw this footage, my “perspective” on NHK’s reporting up to now instantly reached the level of “transcendence.”
It became clear to me that the people controlling NHK’s news division are Tsujimoto Kiyomi’s “comrades.”
When they broadcast photographs relating to Prime Minister Takaichi, they show them at an angle, or, as in the recent watch9, they split the screen in two, with the female presenter, Ms. Hoshi, on the left and a photograph of Prime Minister Takaichi on the right, and continued that for a fairly long stretch.
Astonishingly, NHK watch9 kept broadcasting the photograph of Prime Minister Takaichi on the right side while making it tremble throughout that entire time.
On the other hand, when they broadcast the above-mentioned decoration of Sato Tsutomu, which had nothing to do with Tsujimoto, they showed footage of Tsujimoto sitting beside Sato, in the upper seat, in a manner completely opposite to their treatment of Prime Minister Takaichi, making her look truly respectable.
Why must the Japanese people pay viewer fees, that is, taxes, to NHK, which repeatedly broadcasts in this manner?
As for sports broadcasts, nature documentaries, documentaries produced by the BBC, and the broadcasting of television dramas, I am willing to pay viewer fees to NHK.
However, I want those to be separated from news programs, variety programs, and the like.
That is because I do not want to pay any viewer fees at all for the portion covering news programs and variety programs.
These should be placed in a separate category.
Only the people who like those programs should pay the corresponding portion of the viewer fees.
For people who do not watch them at all, and do not want to watch them, that portion should be divided by time and deducted from the viewer fee.