Lame Excuse of Nihon TV Co.

     An incident of buying a program rating, which was caused by a staff member of Nihon
Terebi (Nihon TV Co.), one of the leading TV companies in Japan, has recently been found
out. The details of the incident were that Masaomi Ando, a producer of the above company,
diverted money from the production cost of his programs to buying an audience rating. The
fact was discovered on October 24, 2003. The total of the money reached about Y10 million.
The following is his shrewd trick. Since April 2000, Ando or other staff members called and
visited about six families intended for an audience rating survey by Video Research Ltd. He
asked the families to watch a specific program in order to check machines for an audience
rating survey or requested them to watch particular program to fill out a questionnaire given
by Ando. After that, he gave a \10,000 gift certificate or left a box of cakes as token of his
gratitude. He could raise an audience rating by 0.1% by bringing a family intended for
an audience rating survey.
     The response of the heads of Nihon TV Co. was terrible. The tone of the Asahi’s editorial
(November 20, 2003), the title of which was “Kankaku-ga-Zureteiru” (“Nihon TV Co. is Off
the Mark”) seemed to have felt utterly scandalize at Nihon TV’s correspondence after the
detection of the incident. Although the writer watched a broadcast of apology on TV, Nihon
TV showed no sign of regret. Main punishments were the following: Seiichiro Ujiie was demoted
from his position as chairman of Nihon TV Co. and the highest manager of the group, to the
position of chairman of Nihon TV Co. and Toshio Hagiwara, from president and the highest
executive to a vice-president. However, this much effort to deal with the problem is not
sufficient. In fact, Ujiie recognized his moral obligation but did not admit his management
responsibility. Hagiwara showed no sign of regret, although a staff member of his company
caused a serious, scandalous affair by buying audience ratings. He was reduced to an
eloquent speaker of his cherished opinion by his lack of regret. According to him, he still
believes that an audience rating is the only index showing the value of TV programs. He
declared that it was no problem for an enterprise to search for a higher audience rating.
When hearing their apologies, it was not only the editorial writer of the Asahi who felt the
apology of the heads of Nihon TV Co. was insufficient.
     There seem to be three points of self-examination in the company. The first point is
that accounts should be dealt with as strictly as possible. If this had been carried out,
the incident of diverting money from production cost to bribery could have been prevented.
Next, Nihon TV Co. is the first commercial broadcasting that adopted a personnel
management system in which the results of employees’ labor are greatly respected. This
system caused Ando to be in a hurry so that he could obtain a higher program rating. He
said, “I was strongly impressed with President Hagiwara’s words saying that anything was
acceptable if you could raise a program rating.” Ando seemed to have bribed people on
account of the art of the defending his own job and the way things are done in the company.
The third point is that Ando had produced vulgar program. The title of his TV programs
produced, “Geinojin-Kyoaku-Hanzai Higai” (“Vicious Crimes Damaged Entetainers”) and
“Chobikkuri-Ningen-Daishugo” (“Ultra-amazing People Have Got Together”), did not sound
intellectual at all. They are not educational, either. What law-level programs that aimed at
a high audience rating are on TV! It is not most desirable that programs of good quality
obtain a high audience rating, and sponsors should give the cost of advertisement to
profitable, useful and educational programs.
     Excuse me for changing the subject, but have you ever cheated on an exam? I have
never done so in my life. This is one of my proudest achievements. I did not cheat because
I thought examinations should be fair. If someone got good marks or passed an entrance
examination by cheating, it is clearly a kind of crime. The same thing could be said if a sports
team won a game by playing foul. The situation in an election is extremely serious. Buying
votes will instantly mean a criminal offence. Buying an audience rating should be held to the
same standard as bribery in an election. Although it is a matter of course that Nihon TV Co.
should take responsibility for ethical reasons, the heads of the said company should find out
who is responsible and should dismiss the persons that fit the requirements. In conclusion
TV companies should not produce vulgar programs under the slogan of acquiring high
audience ratings.