Editing NHK (section)

===Criticism over comments about Japanese wartime history===
NHK has occasionally faced various criticisms for its treatment of Japan's wartime history.<ref name=JPRI>{{cite journal |url=http://www.jpri.org/publications/critiques/critique_XII_3.html |title=Censorship at NHK and PBS |publisher=Japan Policy Research Institute |author=Henry Laurence |journal=JPRI Critique |volume=XII |number=3 |date=April 2005 |archive-date=25 December 2015 |access-date=26 January 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151225193947/http://www.jpri.org/publications/critiques/critique_XII_3.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

{{Nihongo|[[Katsuto Momii]]|籾井 勝人}}, the 21st Director-General of NHK, caused controversy<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-25901572 |work=BBC News |title=Japan NHK boss Momii sparks WWII 'comfort women' row |date=26 January 2014 |access-date=29 July 2014}}</ref><ref>[http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia-pacific/2014/01/japan-tv-chief-dismisses-wartime-sex-slavery-201412652738860639.html Japan TV chief dismisses wartime sex slavery - Asia-Pacific]. [[Al Jazeera English]]. Retrieved on 29 July 2014.</ref> by discussing Japan's actions in [[World War II]] at his first press conference after being appointed on 20 December 2013. It was reported that Momii said NHK should support the Japanese government in its territorial dispute with China and South Korea.<ref>{{cite news |date=2014-01-25 |title=New NHK chief: 'comfort women' only wrong per 'today's morality'; programming must push Japan's territorial stances |newspaper=[[The Japan Times]] |url=http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2014/01/25/national/new-nhk-chief-comfort-women-only-wrong-per-todays-morality-programming-must-push-japans-territorial-stances/ |url-status=deviated |access-date=29 July 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140125192910/http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2014/01/25/national/new-nhk-chief-comfort-women-only-wrong-per-todays-morality-programming-must-push-japans-territorial-stances/ |archive-date=2014-01-25}}</ref> He also caused controversy by what some describe as the playing down of the [[comfort women]] issue in World War II, according to the ''Taipei Times'', stating, "[South] Korea's statements that Japan is the only nation that forced this are puzzling. 'Give us money, compensate us', they say, but since all of this was resolved by the Japan–Korea peace treaty, why are they reviving this issue? It's strange."<ref name="Taipei Times">{{cite news |date=27 January 2014 |title=NHK chairman says fuss over 'comfort women' perplexing |work=[[Taipei Times]] |agency=Reuters |url=http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2014/01/27/2003582237 |access-date=21 November 2014}}</ref> It was subsequently reported by ''[[The Japan Times]]'' that on his first day at NHK Momii asked members of the executive team to hand in their resignation on the grounds they had all been appointed by his predecessor.<ref>{{cite news |date=22 February 2014 |title=NHK chief 'asked senior management to quit' on first day in office |work=[[The Japan Times]] |agency=Kyodo News |url=http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2014/02/22/national/nhk-chief-asked-senior-management-to-quit-on-first-day-in-office/ |url-status=deviated |access-date=22 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140226053342/http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2014/02/22/national/nhk-chief-asked-senior-management-to-quit-on-first-day-in-office/ |archive-date=2014-02-26}}</ref>

A number of civil society groups protested against Momii's continued tenure as Director-General of NHK.<ref name=":1">{{cite news |last=Nagata |first=Kazuki |date=2014-05-02 |title=Viewers target NHK chief Momii |newspaper=[[The Japan Times]] |url=http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2014/05/02/national/viewers-target-nhk-chief-momii/ |url-status=deviated |access-date=29 July 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140503043847/http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2014/05/02/national/viewers-target-nhk-chief-momii/ |archive-date=2014-05-03}}</ref> On 27 January 2014,<ref>{{Cite web |date=2014-01-27 |title=NHK籾井会長に辞任要求/放送法に反すると市民団体 |url=https://www.shikoku-np.co.jp/national/culture_entertainment/20140127000378 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230927213516/https://www.shikoku-np.co.jp/national/culture_entertainment/20140127000378 |archive-date=2023-09-27 |access-date=2023-09-27 |website=The Shikoku Shimbun |language=ja}}</ref> the {{Nihongo|Viewers' Community to Observe and Encourage NHK|NHKを監視・激励する視聴者コミュニティ}} issued a public letter calling for Momii's resignation on the grounds that the remarks he made at his inaugural press conference were explosive. The letter stated that if Momii did not resign by the end of April, its members would freeze their licence fee payments for half a year.<ref name=":1" /> While Momii did not resign, he was not reappointed and retired after serving only one term of three years.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Sato |first=Junji |date=2019 |title=公共放送のあり方と財源: NHK受信料訴訟最高裁判決を受けて |journal=Journal of Mass Communication Studies |language=ja |volume=95 |pages=99–100 |doi=10.24460/mscom.95.0_87 |issn=1341-1306}}</ref>

On 17 October 2014, ''[[The Times]]'' claimed to have received internal NHK documents which banned any reference to the [[Nanjing Massacre]], to Japan's use of wartime sex slaves during World War II, and to its territorial dispute with China in its English-language broadcasting.<ref name=TimesUK>{{cite news |last=Parry |first=Richard Lloyd |url=https://www.thetimes.com/article/japans-bbc-bans-any-reference-to-wartime-sex-slaves-s7qtbxr0kc0 |title=Japan's 'BBC' bans any reference to wartime 'sex slaves' |work=[[The Times]] |date=17 October 2014 |access-date=20 October 2014}}</ref>