NHK News Watch 9 incident

Good morning, everyone. I am Kazuhiro Haraguchi,a member of the House of Representatives. Last night, an incident, which I call the NHK News Watch 9 incident, occurred. It all started when a friend told me that there would be a broadcast to face the people who had lost important people from the vaccine. Mr. Kazuhisa Ugawa spoke about various things related to this coverage, and I honestly had high expectations. I had been watching NHK's broadcast since 9pm, even though I am also the Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications, there are very few times when I spend an hour watching it. There were many controlled pieces of information that we do not often see in the world, such as the Russia-Ukraine problem. Yesterday (5/15), it was quite amazing, and it is not surprising that people are now voicing that they want to refrain from paying the license fee. However, the relevant part did not appear until the last minute and five seconds of the broadcast.
As a result, I waited until that time, even though it was quite late. NHK Plus is available where you can see it, but in reality, people who think that they or their loved ones might have died from being vaccinated might be under the impression that they had died from COVID, not even mentioning the word "vaccine". However, for the past three years, we have finally become ranked fifth. The people and the government worked hard, and a bright future is now opening up. But it is happening right now, and it is not even clear if it is a drug disaster. Instead of sympathizing with the people affected, the voices were edited to express a completely different meaning. As a Minister in charge of the Broadcasting Act, I have amended a few times, but this is clearly a violation of the Broadcasting Act.
Later today, I will ask the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, in charge of the Broadcasting Act, for their opinion on editing this program. We, members of the National Diet, must be extremely cautious when stepping in, but it is extremely dangerous to report something that is not true. When I saw the end of the program with the caption "to a bright future," I got goosebumps. That was because I flew to Fukushima immediately after the Tokyo Electric Power Company's Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident. At that time, an ostrich walked toward us from behind in a deserted city that was no longer inhabitable. It was a big ostrich