<figure id="attachment_361156" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-361156" style="width: 696px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="328e7600"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2024/02/e2c9c65f2983c005371de1109757f7c3.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-361156" class="wp-caption-text">Miyaneya,&#8221; hosted by Seiji Miyane, has been actively handling news about Hitoshi Matsumoto (right)&#8230;</figcaption></figure>
 The media is in a state of confusion over &#8220;Downtown&#8221; star Matsumoto Hitoshi.
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 Late last year, &#8220;Weekly Bunshun&#8221; reported allegations of sexual coercion by Matsumoto. Matsumoto immediately declared legal action and filed a lawsuit against Bungei Shunju, the publisher of Bunshun, and others, seeking 550 million yen in damages. Matsumoto himself suspended his entertainment activities on January 8 to concentrate on the trial.
 Mr. Matsumoto has virtually disappeared from the TV industry. The TV stations were in an uproar when he went on hiatus, but they are finally getting back to normal mode now that a replacement comedian and future programming have been finalized.
 The first oral argument in the Matsumoto vs. Bunshun case is scheduled for March 28 at the Tokyo District Court.
 However, in terms of excitement, it is not so good. Television and newspapers are only reporting what they can, leaving it up to the lawyers and commentators to make an assessment of the trial.
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 The only program that is showing some interest is &#8220;Information Live Miyaneya&#8221; (Nippon Television Network Corporation), which on its broadcast on March 15 featured the latest issue of Bunshun, and the following is an excerpt from the program
 The article reports on Matsumoto&#8217;s relationships with women up to the time he became successful, using testimony from more than 40 years ago.
 The article&#8217;s gist was as follows. The first was &#8220;not telling women that the drinking party was in a hotel room until just before the party,&#8221; the second was &#8220;not informing women that Matsumoto would be attending,&#8221; and the third was &#8220;confiscating cell phones or using them during the drinking party. The fourth itemized the following: &#8220;At the end of the party, some kind of &#8216;game&#8217; will be played and one woman will be left in the bedroom while the other participants leave.
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" Discovery also stated, &quot;Matsumoto will eventually return...&quot;"></div>
Miyaneya is known for its aggressive broadcasting on the issue of the former Unification Church, while other stations were reluctant to do so. My impression is that Miyaneya is taking the stance of addressing viewers&#8217; concerns and is spending more time on Mr. Matsumoto&#8217;s issue this time as well. However, they have not gone as far as to conduct their own original coverage.
 The same is true of the sports newspapers, which have a close relationship with Yoshimoto Kogyo, and although they follow up on the Bunshun report, they have not made any moves to search for new female victims on their own. This was also the case with last year&#8217;s report on the sexual assault of the late Janie Kitagawa, and the reticence of the news media is unacceptable.
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 In the end, they have not been able to get rid of the discovery process,&#8221; he said. When the former Johnny&#8217;s was being reported, as victims were coming forward one after another, I called the publicist at the time and asked him if I could touch on the issue lightly,&#8221; he said. He asked, &#8220;Can I touch on it briefly?
 After all, that publicist left the office after the series of disturbances. &#8230;&#8230; Even in the case of Matsumoto&#8217;s recent disturbance, most of the companies are still looking at Yoshimoto&#8217;s side of the story.
 The fact that Matsumoto immediately declared legal action may be one of the reasons why he could not write off the situation. However, even before that, there was a lot of talk within the company about
 &#8220;Let&#8217;s do our own reporting, too.
 However, before that, there was not even a single voice within the company that said, &#8220;Let&#8217;s do our own reporting.
 Yoshimoto is a comedy agency, so there is some leniency toward the press, but not toward Mr. Matsumoto. Whether Mr. Matsumoto is angry or not is more important than whether the news is correct or not.
 If there was anything that might upset him, the person in charge would immediately call to protest. Since I have such a memory, I am just wrestling with someone else&#8217;s loincloth in this case, too,&#8221; said a reporter from a sports newspaper.
 As a result, there have been no &#8220;independent investigations&#8221; by TV or sports newspapers except for a few. Some of them said
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 &#8220;Mr. Matsumoto will come back sooner or later,&#8221; &#8220;Yoshimoto is a big agency.
 &#8220;Yoshimoto is a big office, so it will be a gentle business.
 Yoshimoto is a big agency.
 Yoshimoto has not told his employees not to say unnecessary things. Yoshimoto has not told his comedians not to say anything. Some Yoshimoto employees have been making it difficult for the media, but they have not pressured them not to report the news.
 A person involved in the comedy industry said, &#8220;They are not pressuring us not to report it publicly. What is it that the media is so scared of that they cannot move?

 Yuya Kawasaki (Miyane)

 Miyaneya," hosted by Seiji Miyane, has been reporting daily on the sexual scandal involving Hitoshi Matsumoto. Behind the scenes of such a program, TV stations, newspapers, and other major media still do not proceed with their own coverage. ......

TV and Newspaper &#8220;Discovery of the Major Media&#8221; that &#8220;Miyaneya&#8221; does not do &#8220;independent reporting&#8221; even though &#8220;Miyaneya&#8221; is exhilarated by the coverage of Hitoshi Matsumoto.

TV and Newspaper “Discovery of the Major Media” that “Miyaneya” does not do “independent reporting” even though “Miyaneya” is exhilarated by the coverage of Hitoshi Matsumoto.

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