The public relations agency that organized a press convention for scandal-hit male expertise company Johnny & Associates Inc admitted Thursday that it had drawn up a “blacklist” of sure journalists to not be referred to as on to ask questions.
FTI Consulting Inc, the Japanese department of the U.S. enterprise providers large, apologized and stated Johnny’s, embroiled in a sexual abuse scandal involving its late founder, had “absolutely no involvement in the creation (of the list) and distribution to operation staff” on the press occasion earlier this week.
The listing was made so the press convention “would run smoothly with the limited time the venue was available,” it stated.
The news convention emcee had the listing of the journalists with their names, images and seats.
Johnny’s additionally stated in an announcement on its web site that it had had no hand in drawing up the listing. But it did say it was liable for the incident on condition that it had employed FTI.
The existence of the so-called “NG list” surfaced in native media reviews Wednesday. NG stands for “no good.”
The expertise company admitted to being proven the listing at a gathering held two days prematurely of Monday’s press convention. During that assembly, Yoshihiko Inohara, president of the company’s subsidiary Johnnys’ Island, stated of the listing, “What does this mean? We must let (all reporters) ask questions,” to which FTI replied it will accomplish that, in keeping with the company’s assertion.
Earlier, the company had informed Kyodo News that FTI’s reply was that it will name on the excluded journalists within the latter half of the press convention, however just one reported on the listing was referred to as.
The press occasion, held amid the fallout over claims of sexual abuse of a whole bunch of individuals by Johnny Kitagawa, lasted about two hours with a “one question per company” rule.
At one level, it turned tense when some journalists shouted to precise their discontent at not being referred to as on regardless of repeatedly elevating their fingers.
Kitagawa was one of many Japanese leisure business’s strongest figures, propelling quite a few teams reminiscent of SMAP and Arashi to stardom earlier than his dying in 2019.
After a BBC documentary aired in March that includes interviews with a number of individuals who claimed to have been sexually abused by the pop mogul, a number of former company members got here ahead with extra accusations of abuse suffered throughout their teenage years.
© KYODO