Japanese newspaper reporter leaked restaurant information to customer

The publisher of YOKOHAMA said on May 29 that the reporter for a local newspaper company leaked information on a reader protesting against a restaurant article to the journalist's family who manage the business.

The publisher of the Kanagawa Shimbun newspaper, Yokohama-based Yokohama, said it is considering taking punitive action against the reporter in their 30s.

The company said that the story introducing the restaurant in Kanagawa Prefecture was written by another reporter and published in the paper. In late April, a reader sent a message to the Kanagawa Shimbun via social media saying it was not appropriate to introduce the restaurant in the paper. The reporter who read the message, who read the text and the content to their own family, who manage the eatery, passed the message to their own family, who manage the eatery, then they posted the content on social media. This came to light after the reader read the post and protested to the publisher. The reporter has apparently told their employer, I thought I needed to tell it to my family, Kanagawa Shimbun Executive Risa Akiyama issued a statement saying: We will thoroughly educate our reporters to ensure that information is handled properly. Wesincerely apologize to everyone concerned and to our readers.