Recently, the Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK) said that an outsourced employee made inappropriate remarks in the Chinese news broadcast on NHK’s international broadcast channel.
According to the Yomiuri Shimbun report on the 20th, at about 1 pm on August 19, a Chinese anchor broadcast the news that “graffiti was found on the stone pillars of the Yasukuni Shrine again” on the NHK International Broadcasting Station. After about 20 seconds, he suddenly made an unscripted statement in Chinese that “Diaoyu Island is Chinese territory.”
In a statement issued on the same day, NHK said, “It is inappropriate to broadcast remarks unrelated to the news, and we deeply apologize. We will take thorough measures to prevent it from happening again.”
It is reported that the news anchor involved is a Chinese citizen in his 40s. He signed a contract with NHK’s affiliate and is not a formal employee of NHK. He is responsible for translating and reading NHK news articles.
NHK said that it has lodged a strong protest to the news anchor through its affiliates and plans to terminate its contract with him.
The Yomiuri Shimbun said that “the intention of the Chinese man’s remarks has not been confirmed.”
This incident quickly sparked heated discussions on Japanese social media, and opinions on the Internet diverged. Some people believe that as an employee of a Japanese media, adding content to the article without authorization is a serious violation of professional ethics, and regardless of their personal stance, they should abide by work norms. However, others believe that as a Chinese, the broadcaster’s remarks reflect his stance on national sovereignty and deserve understanding and respect.
NHK did not disclose the broadcaster’s name to avoid causing public opinion damage to the broadcaster.