Yomiuri suspends writer for no effort

02/01/2008
THE ASAHI SHIMBUN

KANAZAWA--A reporter of The Yomiuri Shimbun was suspended for a month for writing an article about Kanazawa University without contacting the school to confirm information, the publisher said Thursday.

The 30-year-old journalist, who works at the daily newspaper's Kanazawa branch office, wrote the story based solely on data available on the Internet.

He included information from The Asahi Shimbun's asahi.com online news service and materials released on the Web sites of the university and the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.

The article, which was carried on the local news page of the Jan. 27 issue, was about a male professor and a female associate professor who had obtained academic degrees from an unauthorized U.S. university.

The article said the two had claimed the titles as part of their academic backgrounds when they were promoted to their current posts.

The reporter quoted the university as saying that it was not considering disciplinary measures because it put more weight on achievements when deciding on the promotions.

The case surfaced after Kanazawa University protested to the publisher, saying the article contained comments from the university which it did not make to the newspaper, according to the public relations department of the daily's Tokyo head office.

The company also said that it plans to discipline the branch office chief for insufficient supervision of the subordinate reporter.

In the in-house investigation, the reporter explained that he attempted to get in touch with the university but he could not do so because it was Saturday, the publisher said.

In a statement, the publisher said the reporter's behavior was unacceptable for a journalist and that the Yomiuri would implement better training of its reporters to prevent a recurrence.

The company apologized to its readers and those affiliated with the university.

However, it denied the article was fabricated or included quotations without permission.

The university said in the released comment that it was discussing whether to accept the official apology and the company's explanation.

(IHT/Asahi: February 1,2008)