NHK apologizes for misleading vaccine deaths

TOKYO - Japan's public broadcaster NHK has apologized to viewers and the people who participated in a broadcast which may have misleadingly attributed deaths after vaccinations as due to the coronavirus.

The broadcast was not appropriate, he said. I offer my deep apologies to viewers and the people who spoke in the interview, said NHK head Nobuo Inaba.

The apology came after a broadcast of the station's News Watch 9 program on May 15, the station said. When taped on May 13 the show had informed viewers that relatives had died after receiving vaccinations against the coronavirus, but the broadcast made it seem as though the deaths were attributed to the virus itself.

The staff member who captured the interviews, according to NHK, was one of the station's video editors. The message of the program was: Let's remember the coronavirus pandemic even as we return to normal daily life. I was aware the interviewee's relative died after receiving a vaccination, but it was broadcast to mean the individual died amid the pandemic, the editor said.

The program had been test-screened by a person in charge of editing at NHK before it was aired, but the type of checks carried out were still being looked into.

Inaba also spoke about the ministry's expert panel, which is debating the state of NHK's online operations. I believe the internet needs to have the same public role as broadcasting, he said.

The panel is considering whether internet operations should become one of NHK's primary functions like TV broadcasting, and will interview NHK officials on May 26.