Japanese broadcaster TV Asahi protested Thursday to the Finance Ministry after saying one of its female employees was a victim of reported sexual harassment by the ministry's top bureaucrat.
The ministry plans to seek cooperation from the broadcaster in looking into the allegations, first reported by a weekly magazine this month. The bureaucrat, Vice Finance Minister Junichi Fukuda, said Wednesday he will step down, although denying the allegations.
The ministry has been facing criticism since it asked any victim of Fukuda's possible harassment to come forward and cooperate in its probe.
Fukuda, 58, again denied the allegation Thursday morning, the day after he said the story in the weekly magazine Shukan Shincho was untrue, but that he will step down as a top ministry bureaucrat as the allegation made it too difficult to continue in his job. He has said he is preparing to file a libel suit against the magazine's publisher.
"We think the sexual harassment actually happened," said the broadcaster's news division general manager, Hiroshi Shinozuka, at a hastily arranged press conference early Thursday.
(Hiroshi Shinozuka, right)
"We plan to formally lodge a protest with the Finance Ministry over a number of acts committed by Mr. Fukuda that inflicted harm on our employee, and his subsequent response," he said.
The weekly magazine reported this month that Fukuda had made sexually suggestive comments to female reporters. It also released an audio clip allegedly of the top bureaucrat making comments such as "Can I give you a hug?" and "Can I touch your breasts?"
The employee had been subjected to verbal sexual harassment on multiple occasions when she dined with Fukuda, starting from about a year and a half ago, and began recording their conversations to protect herself, according to the broadcaster.
She considered reporting his actions on a TV Asahi news program, but the superior she consulted over the matter said it would be difficult because the victim's identity could come out causing her further indignity, prompting her to provide the recordings to the weekly magazine, it said.
TV Asahi said it regrets it was unable to respond appropriately to the employee's concerns, saying it should have studied different options, such as reporting the harassment and lodging a protest at the time.
The employee told the company she agreed to be interviewed by the weekly magazine out of the strong conviction that if the acts went unreported, it would be giving tacit permission for sexual harassment to continue, the broadcaster said.
She was also quoted as saying it was "disappointing" that Fukuda was stepping down without admitting to harassment.
Shukan Shincho magazine released a statement Thursday saying it is confident in the accuracy of its report and that the magazine "cannot help but be surprised that Vice Minister Fukuda, even at this stage, still denies he has sexually harassed (the reporter)."
The magazine carried the article after confirming the location of the restaurant where Fukuda allegedly made the sexually suggestive remarks and verifying other elements of the story, becoming convinced the allegations were true, it said.
TV Asahi did not clarify whether the employee was a reporter for fear she could be identified. She has been traumatized by the harassment she suffered, the broadcaster said.
(Junichi Fukuda resigns)
While the company said it "regrets" as a broadcaster that the employee gave information she obtained through news coverage activities to a third party, media experts warned against such a statement, saying it could divert attention from the real issue.
"The employee gave the information in hopes of making the issue public. I find the wording strange," said Kaori Hayashi, a professor of journalism at a University of Tokyo graduate school.
"It could divert the focus from the sexual harassment allegations," she said.
Opposition parties held a joint meeting to hear from the ministry, already under fire for its management of a plot of state land and doctoring of documents related to the cut-price sale of the land to a school operator with ties with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's wife Akie.
The ministry "should acknowledge the existence of sexual harassment (by Fukuda) and apologize," Social Democratic Party lawmaker Mizuho Fukushima said at the hearing.
"We'd like to listen to their side of the story first," a ministry official said in reference to TV Asahi.
The ministry has asked media to comply with its investigations over Fukuda's alleged sexual harassment, but the press club at the ministry lodged a protest against the request.
The protest letter submitted to the ministry on Wednesday said the victim faces a huge psychological barrier to coming forward and her privacy will not be ensured by the investigations conducted by a law firm working as an adviser to the ministry.
Labor unions also released statements criticizing the ministry's request. The Japan Federation of Newspaper Workers' Unions said the move was "a threat against the victim and pressure and an attack against media."
"Many female reporters have been forced to put up with this out of the fear that the relationship between people they interview and their companies would deteriorate. We have to put an end to this situation," it said.
More on Finance Ministry sexual harassment scandal:
Top finance bureaucrat to resign over sexual harassment allegations
"Can I touch your boobs?"- Harassment scandal shakes Japan's troubled Finance Ministry
