Abe raps NHK chief for bigoted comments

"It is only to God human beings can offer their own lives," she wrote in a well-publicized essay a short time before her appointment to the NHK's board.

"If it is devoted in the truly right way, there could be no better offering. When Mr. Shusuke Nomura committed suicide at the Asahi Shimbun headquarters 20 years ago, he offered his death to God," Hasegawa wrote.

Momii's comments, Hyakuta's blatant ignorance and Hasegawa's ultra-right leaning tendencies are utterly disgraceful and a major embarrassment to NHK which has, for the best part, been a trustworthy and reliable broadcaster, a notable Japanese political analyst told Xinhua in a recent interview.

Moreover, they're an embarrassment for regular Japanese people who know and feel real contrition over the true facts regarding the atrocities caused by Japanese troops in Nanjing, the expert said, referring specifically to Hyakuta's comments, adding that they were "tantamount to someone denying the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, or someone of authority and education refuting the holocaust ever happened."

Momii also said he might focus more air time on covering Japan' s views on territorial disputes with both China and South Korea, remarking that, "It would not do for NHK to say left when the government says right," also seriously brought the public broadcaster's pledge of neutrality, impartiality and objective news reporting into question.

Concerns are now rife that Momii and NHK are heading towards a new right-leaning programming policy, as dictated by the government, with some press club members believing that NHK is quickly moving in a direction to not be trusted for its former politically neutrality.

If Momii and his board are not kept in check, NHK could be moving in a very dangerous and bellicose direction without fully realizing it, notable press club members have said, as calls for the board to resign on mass are becoming ever-more vociferous.

Momii's refusal in parliament Thursday to confirm or deny whether the US Embassy in Tokyo has refused to allow its ambassador, Caroline Kennedy, to be interviewed by NHK, following a string of deplorable gaffe's by NHK's board members, has further cast a dark shadow over the global perception of Japan's public broadcaster.

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