Japan's public broadcaster vetoes satirical comments on politicians

Tokyo, Jan 9 (IANS/EFE) Japan's public broadcaster NHK vetoed humorous digs at national politicians that the Japanese comedy duo Bakusho Mondai had proposed for a New Year's programme scheduled to be broadcast Jan 3, the Asahi daily newspaper reported Friday.

The duo spoke about the incident on their radio programme "Junk Bakusho Mondai Cowboy" Wednesday when they said that all the material pertaining to politicians was removed at a meeting with the channel's programming team.

"I was infuriated, because they said all topics (about politicians) were out," said Yuji Tanaka, one of the comedians.

"It depends on the producer, but some do exercise caution. I assure you there was no political pressure. It was voluntary restraint on the part of the television station to avoid stirring up trouble," added Hikaru Ota, the duo's other half.

Pop rock band Southern All Stars recently caused a stir after its lead singer sang songs with political content during a concert last month in Yokohama which was attended by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his wife.

Tanaka feels the trend of discouraging the use of satirical elements in shows has grown stronger in the country and expects it to continue growing.

Meanwhile, in a comment to Asahi, NHK said: "We usually do not comment on the contents of a meeting about a programme."

--IANS/EFE

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