Turning an “innocent man” into a murderer for a special joke…The irresponsible nature of the media is involved in the “big blunder of the century” by the police and prosecutors The Hakamada case began with “special joke” Mainichi Shimbun 58 years ago

After Iwao Hakamada was found innocent in the so-called “Hakamada Incident” that took place in Shizuoka Prefecture in 1966, newspapers including the Mainichi Shimbun published apologies. Former Shizuoka Shimbun reporter and journalist Kazuya Kobayashi said, “Since then, the Mainichi Shimbun has been making a series of specific allegations and promoting false accusations. .” –.

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Iwao Hakamada welcomes a gathering to announce acquittal in the trial, evening of October 14, 2024, Shizuoka City

An “apology article” was published the day after the retrial and acquittal

On the 27th, the day after the Shizuoka District Court issued a retrial ruling that found Iwao Hakamada innocent, the morning edition of the Mainichi Shimbun devoted almost half of its page to a large article titled ` “Confirmation of Mr. Hakamada’s statement in this paper. We are sorry for human rights violations.”

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Mainichi Shimbun morning edition of the 27th (partially edited by the online editorial department)

Journalist Shoko Egawa contributed commentary to the article.

The headline read, “Don’t learn from the false accusations,” and “It was as if reporters and the police had become one.” “Why didn’t reporters at the time learn from the three previous false accusations and report Mr. Hakamada as the culprit?” Did he continue?” he criticized.

In the early hours of June 30, 1966, the four members of the managing director and family of a miso manufacturing company in Shimizu City, Shizuoka Prefecture (now Shimizu Ward, Shizuoka City) were murdered, and the Mainichi published Shimbun story about the top of the social section in the evening edition of July 4 of the same year.

“Declaration” is the responsibility of the reporter at the time only

Comparing newspaper reports from the time, it is clear that the Mainichi Shimbun took the lead in reporting the murder of a family of four, with Mr. Hakamada as the “culprit.”

In its “investigation,” the Mainichi Shimbun wrote about reporters at the time, saying, “The style of writing seemed to be tied to the investigating authorities,” “reporting that put too much emphasis on confession,” said e. and “although the commentators seem to have had some understanding of the true situation.” “He raised no doubts about investigative methods,” he said.

Furthermore, Editor-in-Chief Sakaguchi said, “Looking back at the paper in 1966, it reported without question the opinion of the investigating authorities that Mr. Hakamada was the culprit ,” he said, “We will never repeat human rights. violations through reporting.”I’m sorry.

In other words, he strongly criticizes the reporting methods used by reporters at the time, who made a series of special jokes. It is written as if there was a problem with the reporter’s reporting methods back in 1966.

If we read this “apology” in their head, will the Mainichi Shimbun and current police reporters stop writing special articles based on the same type of interviews they did before?

The sloppy “investigation” and the “apology” that can be taken as an apology seem to be nothing more than an attempt to shift the blame for the past to the reporters of the time.

Let’s find out what the problem was.