<figure id="attachment_410590" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 640px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-410590"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="d4b09fc5"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2025/01/233b3149881114b7be70448b52773d03.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-410590" class="wp-caption-text">Fuji Television in a tight spot.</figcaption></figure>
The Fuji TV crisis began with former talent Masahiro Nakai&#8217;s (52) personal troubles, which led to sponsors withdrawing and the company&#8217;s commercial slots being dominated by AC Japan ads, creating a bizarre situation. On January 17, during a &#8220;no camera&#8221; press conference, President Koichi Minato (72) repeatedly stated, &#8220;I will refrain from answering,&#8221; which only worsened the situation.
&#8220;The number of union members surged from 80 to over 500 in just a few days. The employees are on the brink of exploding.&#8221; (Mid-level Fuji employee)
Following a request from the labor union, a company briefing was held on January 23 in a studio, where President Minato and Chairman Shuji Kano addressed the employees. More than 500 employees attended in person, and over 1,100, which represents over 90% of the staff, participated in the internal broadcast.
The employee briefing was off-limits for reporters, but due to its importance, some content was revealed through Fuji&#8217;s news program &#8220;It!&#8221; However, there were some outrageous remarks made during the briefing that no media outlet touched upon.
&#8220;The first 30 minutes were spent on an explanation and apology from President Minato and Chairman Kano, followed by a Q&amp;A session. The tension in the room was palpable. Reporters pointed out, &#8216;Holding such a press conference is akin to suicide for a media organization,&#8217; a drama producer lamented, &#8216;Filming is halted because cooperation from locations has been canceled,&#8217; and one female employee tearfully explained, &#8216;My child is being bullied at school.&#8217; However, President Minato and Chairman Kano only offered superficial apologies and avoided providing concrete solutions, responding evasively to the questions.
At one point, an employee, visibly enraged, exploded, saying, &#8216;While we&#8217;re talking, hundreds of millions of yen are being lost!&#8217; and &#8216;We&#8217;re talking about whether we live or die as we have families to support!&#8217; Eventually, calls for the resignation of all executives, including Advisor Hisashi Hieda (87), echoed through the room, met with applause.&#8221;
Amidst this, one employee&#8217;s comment completely shifted the atmosphere:
&#8220;A legal affairs employee warned the staff, saying, &#8216;Don’t make reckless statements if you don’t even know company law,&#8217; and &#8216;If information is leaked, I will sue.&#8217; When they made this remark, the executives remained silent. Even though opinions should be free, I felt the company&#8217;s dark side.&#8221;
After this, the employees’ tone softened. However, President Minato&#8217;s comments on the drinking party that triggered the incident further eroded the trust of the staff.
&#8220;President Minato said, &#8216;We’ll create new rules regarding meetings with female announcers.&#8217; In the end, this just reinforced the idea that female announcers are being treated like companions, and everyone was left disillusioned. The briefing lasted over four hours, but in the end, the truth wasn&#8217;t revealed. What we did learn was just how &#8216;bad&#8217; the company really is.&#8221; (Young employee)
Today, Fuji TV is set to hold an emergency board meeting, followed by an open press conference at 4 p.m. The question now is whether they can convince both employees and viewers.

 Although the briefing was not covered by the media, some of the contents came to light, such as a report by Fuji's news program "It! reported on it, and some of its contents came to light. But - in fact - there was a "demo" explanation at the briefing that none of the media mentioned.

Threatened with Lawsuit: Shocking Details of Fuji TV Employee Briefing Unreported by Stations

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