Unification Church Journalist Refutes “Mezamashi 8” Furuichi Noritoshi’s “Heroic View of Yamagami Accuser” Report on Prime Minister Kishida’s Bomber.

Some of the media reports that made the defendant Yamakami look like a hero ……
I think it may have led to a second incident.”

On the April 17 broadcast of “Mezamashi 8” (Fuji TV), commentator and sociologist Kenju Furuichi referred to the incident in Wakayama City on April 15, when an explosive device was thrown into the air just before Prime Minister Kishida’s speech. His comment is controversial.

Furuichi used the example of Tetsuya Yamagami, the defendant who shot former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, as mentioned above, and shared his theory that the media coverage of Yamagami as a hero may have caused this incident.

In contrast, however, journalist Eito Suzuki, who has been covering the issues of the former Unification Church for more than 20 years, quoted Furuichi’s statement on his Twitter account

I have never seen such a report.

I’ve never seen such a report,” he posted.

I think it’s true that on Twitter and in the comments section of articles, there is a kind of heroic view of defendant Yamagami. However, this is the voice of a part of the general public, and there is no way that the news media would consider a person who killed people in such a terrorist act as a ‶hero‶.

There were reports that donations were collected at the detention center and a large number of gifts were delivered, but that is a fact, not a heroic view.

Certainly, it would be difficult to consider Yamagami a hero in the public nature of television media. However, there is a possibility that something similar to this was ironically broadcast on “Mezamashi 8.

The following is an excerpt from “NEW’S VISION,” which also appears in Yahoo News and was distributed on January 12 this year.

According to the article, “Mezamashi 8’s ‘Mezamashi 8’ Report on Tetsuya Yamagami as a ‘Hero’ Raises Questions from Viewers: ‘This is Ethically Outrageous’ and ‘The Program is Weird'” on January 11.

According to the article, in the January 11 broadcast

The program said on SNS, “Tetsuya Yamagami was a hero after all. The program also interviewed a person who posted “What Tetsuya Yamagami did was right,” and introduced his response, “The reason why Tetsuya Yamagami is a hero is because he saved many victims of religion. The interviewer also reported that more than 10,000 people have signed a petition on the Internet calling for a “commutation” of Yamagami’s sentence.

The broadcast was criticized by the media. Criticisms poured in for this broadcast.

The suspect, Ryuji Kimura of Kawanishi City, Hyogo Prefecture, who was caught red-handed in the bombing, has remained silent at this point and his motive is unknown.

We are not sure if he really threw the bomb at Prime Minister Kishida, and at this point we have only arrested him on the charge of obstruction of business. As soon as the charges are solidified, we may re-arrest him for possession and manufacture of explosives, attempted murder, etc. We found no explosives at his home, but we will continue to arrest him. Although explosives and other items were found at his home, no evidence of religious or political beliefs has come to light, so it will be urgent to determine his motive.

The content of “Mezamashi 8” has been the subject of much discussion, including host Shosuke Tanihara’s comments and Rurei Miura’s refusal to appear on the program. The edgy performers and content may be proportional to the high level of attention. ……