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Scandal-plagued Asahi Shimbun admits fabricating interview
PUBLISHED : Monday, 15 September, 2014, 4:48am
UPDATED : Monday, 15 September, 2014, 4:48am
Kyodo in Tokyo
Nintendo president Satoru Iwata
The Asahi Shimbun, under fire for erroneous reports on Japan's wartime military brothels and the testimony of the late chief of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, revealed yesterday yet another scandal, saying it fabricated an interview with the president of Nintendo.
In a statement yesterday, the newspaper said it produced a story in June 2012 that appeared to be an interview with Nintendo president Satoru Iwata, though the paper actually compiled remarks he had posted on Nintendo's website.
The purported interview with Iwata appeared in a story carried on June 8 of that year, featuring interviews with several major game makers.
The Asahi had asked the game-console and software maker for an interview with Iwata, but was turned down.
The paper then told Nintendo it wanted to write an article by compiling remarks posted on the game company's website. The daily went ahead with publishing the story, assuming it had the approval of Nintendo, according to the Asahi.
But Nintendo lodged a protest with Asahi over the story appearing as an interview, and the daily apologised to the company.
In the statement, the Asahi said it decided to run an apology to readers after receiving complaints about the piece.
The Asahi, one of Japan's top newspapers, retracted on Thursday a controversial report on the testimony of Masao Yoshida, then chief of the disaster-hit Fukushima nuclear plant, after admitting that it contained erroneous information.
The newspaper also drew fire after retracting past reports about Japan's wartime military brothels, and initially refusing to publish a column by popular journalist Akira Ikegami about the daily's review of the matter.
