Reading Fuji TV Third-Party Committee Report as a career consultant

 On March 31, a detailed 273-page investigative report called the Fuji TV Third-Party Committee Report was released (https://www.fujitv.co.jp/company/news/250331_3.pdf).

 

This comprehensive document covers a sexual assault incident involving a female announcer.

 

Key points:

• The report details the company's response to a female announcer who suffered mental health issues due to sexual violence.
• It addresses legal disputes and corporate responses after media coverage.
• While initially seeming unrelated to career consulting, the report suggests potential benefits of career counseling for those involved.

 

Incident overview:

• June 2023: A talent sexually assaulted a female announcer (referred to as Woman A).
• Woman A's health deteriorated; the incident was reported to upper management.
• Limited members handled the situation confidentially.
• Woman A wanted to return to work but lost trust in the company as the offender continued to appear on programs.
• Woman A eventually resigned.
• The incident was reported in a weekly magazine.
• Fuji TV's inadequate response led to public criticism and loss of sponsors.
• The offending talent announced retirement.
• Fuji TV's chairman and president resigned.
• Fuji TV accepted a third-party investigation, resulting in this report.

 

The structure of the report is as follows:

 

Chapter 1: Overview of the investigation by the third-party committee
Chapter 2: Overview of our company
Chapter 3: About the incident
Chapter 4: Response to the incident's media coverage
Chapter 5: Similar incidents
Chapter 6: Verification from a human rights perspective
Chapter 7: Status of internal control and corporate governance
Chapter 8: Cause analysis
Chapter 9: Recommendations for prevention of recurrence

 

Chapters 3 and 4 provide detailed accounts of the sexual violence incident against the female announcer. These chapters mainly focus on interviews with those involved in the incident. During this process, digital forensic investigation techniques were used to preserve and analyze data from PCs and smartphones, which has drawn attention from media professionals. From Chapter 5 onwards, interviews were conducted with people not directly involved in the incident, and past similar cases and Fuji TV's corporate culture were investigated. It was pointed out that this sexual violence incident did not occur by chance, but was bound to happen, and the committee recommends Fuji TV to make fundamental reform.

 

To summarize the recommendations very simply, Fuji TV's management has a culture that is insensitive (or "tolerant" as expressed in the report) to harassment, including sexual harassment, and this sexual violence incident was not an isolated event. It is a very logical conclusion that management cannot continue with just old-fashioned men stuck in the past, and that diversity management with more women in leadership positions is necessary. Please read the following excerpt from the report.

 

” As stated above, our company faces significant adverse effects due to ７a lack of diversity. Ensuring gender balance among decision-makers and senior management appears to be an urgent issue to prevent risks of human rights violations within the company. Regarding efforts toward gender equality, the requirement for a ratio of 30% or more female executives and managers stems from the principle that the ideal gender ratio is 1:1. The 30% threshold represents the minimum level at which the benefits of diversity can be realized. It is important to note that 30% is not the ultimate goal.” (Report, p.202)

 

Now, moving on to the role of career consultants.

At first glance, it may seem that career consultants have no role to play in this incident, as mental health care for victims is the domain of psychiatrists, and legal disputes between victims and perpetrators fall under the purview of lawyers.

 

However, after the incident, the compliance office and legal department were not informed, and the handling of the incident was kept confidential among a limited number of internal members. And for the contact for the victim, her female superior in the same announcement department (referred to as Ms. F in the report) was assigned by her bosses. The report indicates that this role was extremely burdensome for Ms. F.

 

"Ms. F, who was not a mental health care specialist, was tasked with supporting Woman A, who had suffered sexual violence and was in a severe physical and mental state, including the possibility of suicide. This caused significant mental strain on Ms. F." (Report, p.30)

 

"Neither Ms. F nor the occupational physician was consulted by the three executives, including President Minato, and they were not informed of the overall policy as a company. Instead, they were left to handle the most challenging aspect of caring for the female victim of sexual violence. Ms. F, in particular, had to interact with Woman A while feeling a concrete fear that Woman A might commit suicide after their interactions. The mental and physical burden on Ms. F was immense. Assigning such an excessive burden to Ms. F, who lacked expertise, solely because she was a woman, could be evaluated as a violation of Ms. F's right to a safe and healthy working environment by the company." (Report, pp.191-192)

 

Given that this was a confidential case involving a famous talent, Ms. F probably couldn't discuss it even with her family. She must have been considerably troubled by being assigned a task beyond her capabilities and expertise. This makes me wonder what would have happened if Ms. F had the opportunity to receive counseling from a career consultant bound by confidentiality. How would it have been if there was a career consultant available as someone to talk to about the difficulties and worries felt at work?

 

In this incident, only a select group of internal members tried to resolve the situation, with Ms. F being caught up in it. However, they should have consulted departments with specialized knowledge, such as the compliance promotion office or legal department.

 

If a career consultant had been in a position to receive consultation from Ms. F, they could have naturally alleviated Ms. F's distress by finding appropriate referrals, and could have also worked towards guiding the Fuji organization in the right direction. Collaboration with the compliance promotion office and legal staff could have been possible from the beginning of the incident.

 

This third-party report is an investigation by people outside of Fuji, so it emphasizes changing Fuji's corporate culture through the power of external experts. However, having career consultants within the company who are bound by legal confidentiality and creating an environment where employees can freely consult them is equivalent to having external power incorporated internally. While companies might view such entities as bothersome or troublesome, having such a presence within the company might prevent the company from running in the wrong direction.

 

While it's important to have an institutional approach of ensuring organizational diversity by balancing gender ratios in management to create an organizational culture that doesn't tolerate harassment, organizations tend to resort to self-defense when something bad happens inside. Diversity alone doesn't seem to solve everything. Considering this, it might be necessary to place individuals within the organization who don't operate solely on organizational logic, and create an environment where workers can always turn to them for consultation. In short, career consultants are necessary inside Japanese companies. That's what I felt after reading this report.