昨日のエントリで触れた Mainichi Daily News の
WaiWai には、今では謝罪文が載っている。昨日の昼の時点では、単なる告知だった。それがまた火に油を注いだような反応をもたらしたので、あわてて謝罪もしたのだろう。リンク先から全文を引用する。
WaiWai Notice and Apology
Explanation and Apology Regarding Mainichi Daily News WaiWai
Mainichi Daily News, the Mainichi Newspapers' English language website, contained a corner called WaiWai that attracted criticism for such things as being too vulgar and debauching Japan by sending around the world information that could be misunderstood. In the wake of this criticism, we decided to end this corner. An online news site reported on these developments and inquired with the Mainichi Newspapers about them. The Digital Media Division which operates the information portal Mainichi.jp also includes the Mainichi Daily News and after receiving the criticism of the WaiWai corner, it was taken down from the Mainichi Daily News and a notice stuck in its place.
Mainichi Daily News is linked to Mainichi.jp. A detailed explanation of the developments in this case have also been provided in Japanese. The Mainichi Newspapers apologizes for the articles that attracted criticism.
Outline
For several years, WaiWai has taken parts of stories reported in mostly weekly magazines and used these to report on Japanese society and customs. In late May, the Mainichi Daily News editorial department began receiving complaints about the stories in WaiWai being too vulgar and an Internet bulletin board began criticizing the column. The online news site took up this issue and reported on it.
Many of the opinions about WaiWai asked the Mainichi about whether it had thought about what effect reporting to the world these stories in English would have, or that these articles would lead to a spread of misinformation about Japan.
Response
Following criticism of WaiWai in late May, we decided there was a problem with listing the stories on the Mainichi Daily News site, even though they were transcriptions of articles that had appeared in magazines published in Japan. Stories were withdrawn from the site and we halted access to problematic archived stories. We also asked search engines to prevent past WaiWai stories from being displayed.
We then changed WaiWai's editorial policy and drastically altered the standards used in story selection. However, there were problems with how past stories had been presented, so to avoid similar criticism from arising, we decided that we needed to come up with a sound editorial structure. This led to a fundamental re-think about WaiWai and on June 21, the decision was made to cease publishing the corner. On the Mainichi Daily News site, we listed the following notice: Some readers pointed out that various articles published in the WaiWai column were inappropriate content for the Mainichi Daily News. We respond to this criticism by halting publication of this column.
While explaining the process in both Japanese and English and apologizing, the Mainichi is poised to severely punish the head of the Digital Media Division, which is responsible for overseeing the site, the manager responsible for the corner and the editor involved with the stories.
Mainichi Daily News, and its publisher the Mainichi Newspapers Co., sincerely accepts readers criticism and will work to provide, edit and publish reliable information.
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MDN readers,
Some readers pointed out that various articles published in the WaiWai column were inappropriate content for the Mainichi Daily News. We respond to this criticism by halting publication of this column. We plan to start a column with a new concept to replace WaiWai in the future.
Thank you for your understanding.
Mainichi Daily News
私が昨日の昼に見たのは青い部分だけ。夜になってもう一度見ると、緑の部分が追加されていた。青い部分を要約すれば「不適切だという批判があったので、コラムの配信をやめることで批判に応える」と言うものだろう。そこには
自分たちも不適切だと考えたとは書いていないし、当然、
謝罪もない。要するに
「やめりゃいいんだろ」と言っているに等しい。
こんな対応をすれば火に油を注ぐようなもの。すでにこの
「変態ニュース」については
ヤフーニュース でも取り上げられ、多くの人の知るところとなっていた。当然、更に批判の渦は大きくなる。
不祥事があった場合、まず始めに謝罪し、その後の調査を約束するのは鉄則だ。詳しい説明はそれからで良い。いつも不祥事を責め続けている立場なら知っていなければならないことだが、自分たちのことになると別なのだろう。
追加部分の和訳は
ここで読める。関係者を処分しただけでは収まらないだろうと思う。
