Yomiuri Shinbun Reporters Arrested One After Another for Scandalous Crime!

“I learned about the Yomiuri reporter’s arrest for shoplifting through a report from another company. As far as I know, it was hardly mentioned within the company.” (A young Yomiuri Shimbun reporter)

On June 18, Sayaka Takahashi, 24, a reporter for the Hokkaido branch of the Yomiuri Shimbun, was caught red-handed for shoplifting a comic book at a bookstore in Sapporo City. After her arrest, Takahashi’s additional crime came to light: on April 28, she was arrested again for shoplifting nine food items, including boxed lunches and confectioneries, from a Seicomart store in Utoro, Shari-cho, Hokkaido.

“The suspect was on a business trip to Shari-cho to cover the sinking of a tourist boat off the Shiretoko Peninsula. At the time, the media companies were sending their amateur reporters and young reporters from Hokkaido to cover the sinking and had them travel to Shari-cho for several days. The incident occurred on April 24, which means that Takahashi was there relatively early in her coverage. And it was there that she was involved in shoplifting,” said a reporter from the social affairs department of a national newspaper.

Takahashi has admitted to the charges. The motive behind the habitual of stealing has not been revealed so far, but the Yomiuri Shimbun reported another arrest earlier this month.

On May 30, a male employee in his 20s was arrested on suspicion of attempted sexual assault of a female acquaintance (charges were dropped on June 23, and he was dismissed from the Yomiuri Shimbun on the same day). The male employee, who was in charge of police coverage at the Yokohama City Bureau, was suspected of attempting to sexually assault a woman at her home in Yokohama by physically holding her down.

In September of last year, a male reporter in his 30s was dismissed from the Yomiuri Shimbun for forcing a female reporter of a weekly magazine into an inappropriate relationship and leaking information. Young employees of the media outlets that report crimes have been arrested one after another. What is happening to a newspaper with a circulation of approximately 7.03 million?

The Yomiuri Shimbun has a more professional staff than other newspapers, and it has a corporate culture that emphasizes compliance. The Yomiuri itself should know better than anyone else that there is a great deal of haloing of scandals in the mass media.

A 25-year-old male former Yomiuri Shimbun reporter arrested by Kanagawa Prefectural Police (charges dropped on June 23)

Isn’t it time for the Yomiuri Shimbun to clean up its act as a corporation?