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Thursday
Oct232014

Japan's timid coverage of Fukushima led this news anchor to revolt — and he's not alone

“ 'I am a newscaster, but I couldn't tell the true story on my news program,' says Jun Hori, a former anchor for NHK, the Japanese state broadcaster.

"Hori says the network restricted what he and other journalists could say about Fukushima and moved more slowly than foreign media to report on the disaster and how far radiation was spreading. The attitude in the newsroom was not to question official information.

" 'I was on the ground in Fukushima, and a lot of people kept asking me, why didn't you tell us earlier about what is happening?' Hori says.

"Out of frustration, Hori started tweeting uncensored coverage. 'I got a huge response,' he says, 'but then my superiors said the NHK was getting complaints from politicians about what I was saying. They told me I had to stop.' " PRI's The World