Nearly all respondents to an internet survey of media workers, prompted by news of a TV reporter being sexually harassed by a top Finance Ministry bureaucrat, say they experienced sexual harassment multiple times, according to results released Thursday.

A total of 103 women and four men responded to the questionnaire, and 102 of the women reported having been sexually harassed, of whom 51 said they had experienced it 10 or more times and 47 said between two to nine times.

"The human rights of reporters and others (in the industry) are not protected. I'm shocked with the result," said Jun Yamamoto, a victim of sexual violence and a member of a group that conducted the survey. The survey was conducted in the wake of a recently exposed case of a former top bureaucrat of the Finance Ministry allegedly sexually harassing a female TV reporter.

(Women protest in Osaka on May 7 over Finance Minister Taro Aso's remarks taken to downplay alleged sexual harassment by a bureaucrat)

Asked in a multiple-answer question when they were harassed, 91 said in their 20s, and 29 said in their 30s. Also, 58 respondents said the harassers were in their 40s, and 54 said the harassers were in their 50s.

In many cases, harassment occurred when the respondents were meeting people for business purposes, including news sources. Other incidents involved bosses and senior colleagues.

Asked in a multiple choice question how they were harassed, 49 people said they were hugged by harassers against their will while 39 people said they were urged to have sex, including eight who said they were actually forced to have sex.

The most common type of sexual harassment was conducted through teasing and joking, with 61 respondents saying they experienced that sort of harassment.

Only 37 people said they reported the harassment. Many answered that the reason they did not tell others was because they did not want to be thought of as "troublesome" and because they did not expect the matter would be properly addressed.

The 107 respondents included people working at newspapers, magazines and broadcasters, the group said.

==Kyodo