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The company said, “On March 30th of this year, the BBC aired “Shadow of a Predator” (hereinafter referred to as “the program”), and the The part of the statement about the slander against the victim was aired in a way that differed from the purpose of Higashiyama’s actual statement, and after the broadcast of this program, there were false criticisms against Higashiyama, such as “encouraging slander.” “We are currently in a situation where a lot of things are being done,” he said, explaining the current situation.
“After the broadcast of this program, on April 10th this year, Mobeen Azhar and Megumi Inman, who are in charge of producing this program, held a press conference at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan (hereinafter referred to as “this press conference”). ), but due to the statements made by both men regarding the victims (hereinafter referred to as “the victims”) who interviewed them as part of the interview for this program, the victims were exposed to slander and slander. We are in a situation where we have no choice but to say that the human rights of the victims have been violated.”
In response, the company said, “We have sent a letter to the BBC strictly protesting and requesting corrections and an apology.”
■SMILE-UP.’s protest details
1 Regarding editing of Higashiyama’s interview video
This program aired an interview video of our company president Noriyuki Higashiyama by Mr. Mobeen Azhar. In addition, the BBC will release a full-length video of the interview after the program is broadcast.
During the interview, Higashiyama responded to a question from Mobeen Azhar,
“I think there is freedom of speech.I’m not particularly advocating slander, and I sometimes think that it’s probably a fair opinion for that person.So, what do you mean by slander? I think it’s very difficult to draw a line. I myself would like to eliminate slander if possible.”
he said.
Although Higashiyama clearly stated that he wanted to eliminate slander, this program and the subsequent feature-length interview video were published by the BBC as saying, “If possible, avoid slander.” The part of the statement that said, “I myself would like to eliminate this,” was omitted, and the content that was broadcast as a whole differed from the purpose of Higashiyama’s statement. We have confirmed the editing status of the BBC’s interview with Higashiyama by comparing and verifying this program and the long-form footage after the program was broadcast with the audio recorded during Higashiyama’s interview.
Furthermore, prior to the broadcast of this program, our company sent a letter to Mr. Mobeen Azhar and Mr. Megumi Inman on March 4, 2019, in which they stated, “I am a “speechless person” regarding Higashiyama’s remarks. I made a statement to the effect that there is freedom, but generally speaking, people who slander people on SNS etc. tend to use such counterarguments as a shield, so I would like to ask such people to understand. This statement states that it is quite difficult to take measures against slander. It is clear from the back-and-forth exchanges, but I would like to make sure that only a portion of what was said is not broadcast.” I was there.
Despite this, the BBC omitted Higashiyama’s remarks and continued to omit the relevant parts in the featurettes that were subsequently released, leading to slander and slander against Higashiyama after the broadcast of this program. We are in a situation where many false criticisms have been made, such as that it is encouraging such behavior.
I have no choice but to say that the BBC intentionally distorted and broadcast Higashiyama’s statements in an attempt to manipulate viewers’ impressions, and I deeply regret this.
2 Regarding Mr. Mobeen Azhar’s statement regarding the interview with the victim
When we had a meeting with Mr. Mobeen Azhar and Mr. Megumi Inman on January 29, 2019 to prepare for the broadcast of this program, we stated that in order to cover as widely as possible the actual situation of sexual assault by Mr. When we proposed that we meet with the victim, who was volunteering to help with compensation work, both of them agreed that they would love to meet. In response to this meeting, our company set up an opportunity to meet with both parties and the victim.
During the above meeting, we will conduct an interview with the victim in order to gain a better understanding of this case, but from the perspective of the victim’s privacy, the facts and contents of the interview will not be disclosed in the program. We asked Mr. Mobeen Azhar and Mr. Megumi Inman to promise not to broadcast or make the information public in any other way, and on that basis, we asked the victim to cooperate with the interview.
In the interview, the victim stated that the reason for agreeing to the interview was not to maintain the company’s reputation, but rather to have the BBC recognize the essence and reality of this incident and provide a multi-faceted and neutral perspective. He said that this was due to his sincere desire to have this program broadcast from this perspective.
However, Mobeen Azhar clarified the fact and contents of the interview with the victim in this program, and also revealed the fact and contents of the interview with the victim again in this press conference. Did.
Mr. Mobeen Azhar’s series of words and actions not only violate the promise he made with our company, but also violate the promise he made to the victim, and are widely used to slander and slander the victim. It can only be an invitation. In fact, the victim has been exposed to slander and slander, and we have no choice but to say that the victim’s human rights have been violated, and our company deeply regrets this.
In response to the circumstances described in 1 and 2 above, we have sent a letter to the BBC strictly protesting and requesting appropriate action, including correction and apology.
that’s all
April 25, 2024
SMILE-UP Co., Ltd.
★Official YouTube channel “ORICON NEWS”
Tags: SMILEUP sends protest letter BBC requesting correction apology Noriyuki Higashiyamas statement deliberately distorted broadcast ORICON NEWS
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