The Reputation of chief director, the Trigger of the “Wide Scramble” Falsehoods
“The president as well as the chairman, Hiroshi Hayakawa, were furious when they received the report of the faked incident. There was a huge uproar in the company.” (TV Asahi employee)
The trumped-up story in TV Asahi’s signature information program, “Yoko Oshita Wide! On October 21, the main MC, Yoko Oshita, apologized for the “inappropriate direction” of the program, and on October 26, President Keiji Kameyama said at a regular press conference, “This is an unforgivable incident that has greatly damaged the trust in the program, and I would like to express my deepest apologies to the viewers and everyone involved. I would like to express my deepest apologies to the viewers and everyone involved.
The falsification came to light in the “Corner for answering questions from viewers,” a program planned for Monday through Thursday. Mr. A, a chief director in his 40s who belonged to TV Asahi Image, a subsidiary of the program’s production company, had been broadcasting questions that the program had prepared in advance, pretending that they were actual viewer questions. The use of assumed questions began in March of this year, with a total of 117 cases mentioned.
The falsification was discovered by the program staff, and TV Asahi, the parent company of the program, conducted an investigation, and during the interview, Mr. A admitted to the falsification. But as long as they were supposed to be answering questions from viewers, it’s only natural that they would be called fake.
It is said that the reason for the revelation of the fabrication was pointed out by the program staff, but there is a story behind it. In fact, the staff of “Wide Scramble” had been bothered by Mr. A’s “harassing words and actions” on a regular basis.
“Mr. A is known as ‘the king’ in the field, and he has a one-man temperament. He was in charge of the directing part of “Wide Scramble,” but he would never shake his head at a story he didn’t like. This behavior of Mr. A was mentally exhausting for the younger members of the team. It is true that the program’s upper management was aware of Mr. A’s behavior and was struggling to deal with it.
In the midst of this, one of Mr. A’s subordinate program staff, who could not stand such behavior, went directly to the executives of TV Asahi Video and accused them of fabrication as a “counterattack.
The parent company, TV Asahi, was swept up in the mess within the subsidiary.
“It was about a week before Anna Oshita’s apology, that Mr. A suddenly stopped coming to the scene. However, we didn’t know what had happened at that time, and the staff at the site said, ‘Maybe Mr. A took a long vacation. Then the falsification issue was explained, and we, including Mr. Oshita, were surprised to hear about it. The corner had been left to Mr. A, and the producer had no idea about it. Mr. A has left the program and is now working in the office. He has left the program and now seems to be working in an administrative capacity, and it is still undecided whether or not he will return to the field.
When this magazine sent a questionnaire to TV Asahi asking if they were aware of Mr. A’s past words and actions, they replied
“When this magazine sent a questionnaire to TV Asahi to see if they were aware of Mr. A’s past behavior, they replied, “We have already issued a press release regarding this inappropriate staging.
The answer was, “We have already released a press release about this inappropriate direction.
Two years ago, a fake report in the evening information program “Super J Channel” was revealed. In the same year, the chief producer of “News Station” allegedly sexually harassed a female announcer, and TV Asahi has been on a downward spiral. I would like to believe that the pus has been drained out of the company through this falsification issue.
