Overview
- Kyodo News announced Tuesday that five employees received written admonitions, and the president issued a strict warning to the editorial bureau chief.
- The action follows a March 10 story that named a real dive shop in Kushimoto and said its operators were sent to prosecutors, which the agency withdrew on March 11 after finding the shop was not involved.
- An internal review said a deputy editor in the social news department did not confirm with two reporters how they obtained the shop’s name, despite the risk of serious harm if the facts were wrong.
- Kyodo apologized to the shop, those involved, and readers, and it pledged to enforce stricter source checks and verification before publishing.
- The company said it aims to prevent a repeat of errors that can damage reputations, with the retracted article remaining off the wire while new safeguards are put in place.