The commercial broadcasters, which had a “honeymoon” with Johnny’s, are planning to “protect themselves” by taking measures against Johnny’s. | FRIDAY DIGITAL

The commercial broadcasters, which had a “honeymoon” with Johnny’s, are planning to “protect themselves” by taking measures against Johnny’s.

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Two members of “Quit Janis,” Genki Iwahashi (right) and Shiyoh Hirano (left).

Talent who have already been contractually assigned to appear in programs, etc., will continue as before. New requests for appearances will not be made until it is confirmed that compensation for the victims and measures to prevent recurrence are being steadily implemented.

On September 27, NHK Chairman Nobuo Inaba stated that, in response to the sexual assault of the late Johnny Kitagawa, he had requested that Johnny’s take appropriate and prompt action to compensate the victims and prevent a recurrence of such an incident.

He added, “Around the same time, the commercial broadcasters, at their presidents’ regular press conferences and other occasions, stated that they were making requests to Johnny’s office regarding apologies to the victims, compensation, and prevention of recurrence, but none of them clearly stated how they would use the talents.

It is very significant that NHK stated that ‘no new requests for appearances will be made’ and indicated the possibility of ‘not participating’ in the NHK Kohaku Uta Gassen at this time. The damage done to Johnny’s is also quite significant.

On September 27, TV Asahi made a similar announcement.

On the 29th, Fuji Television Network revealed that it had submitted a proposal to the office for “speedy action to prevent recurrence and provide relief to victims” and “separation of the company that provides relief to victims from the talent management company,” along with a “change of the company name. In addition, he also mentioned the use of talent. The company also mentioned the use of talent, saying that it would “continue” and that it would “closely monitor” the press conference scheduled for October 2.

However, this “continue” was merely a follow-up to the NHK’s reference to the use of celebrities, and the agency probably really wanted to avoid a clear statement if at all possible.

It is somewhat disconcerting that nearly three weeks after Johnny’s held its first press conference on the issue of sexual assault on September 7, all the stations were quick to express similar views.

The private broadcasters have not reached a conclusion on how to use Johnny’s talents,” said the executive. The truth is that they didn’t want to use them. If one of the stations had a policy, we wanted to follow in their footsteps, but none of them did. NHK finally made a clear statement, but the commercial broadcasters cannot make such a strong statement because of the influence of their sponsors.

Even so, the TV stations are naturally aware that public opinion will not be convinced if they continue to avoid a clear statement…. One executive at a commercial TV station lamented, “We are going to slowly distance ourselves from the Johnny’s office.

One executive at a commercial TV station lamented, “From now on, we will slowly distance ourselves from the Johnny’s office. The direction is that the “honeymoon” relationship between the Johnny’s office and the TV stations will disappear. In short, it is Mr. Kitagawa and the management who are to blame, not the talents. Since there will be no change in the relationship, the talent currently on the show will continue to appear on the show as they are.

However, there will be no use of Johnny’s talent in new programs for a while. It seems like NHK is just waiting to see if they really won’t use Johnny’s talent in “Kohaku” or not. Then, what about the “quit-japanis”? This is a very difficult question, because if we use a new Johnny’s talent, the question will be, “Then why don’t we use Johnny’s talent?

However, among younger employees at TV stations,

The era of relying on Johnny’s is over. If we don’t seriously think about the future, TV will really be ruined. Now is the time for reform.

Some of them are even saying, “Now is the time for reform. Although the Johnny’s issue is the catalyst, it may be fair to say that the TV industry is also in the midst of a major transitional period.

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  • PHOTO Ippei Hara (Genki Iwahashi), Yusuke Kondo (Shiyou Hirano)

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