‘Malicious’ Japan TV interview claiming Chinese eat crows ruffle feathers in China

Japan’s Nippon Television has apologised for manipulating street interview clips to falsely claim that Chinese people eat crows and held a freelance producer accountable.

Hiroyuki Fukuda, the television network’s president, apologised on Monday and announced that street interviews for the variety show involved would be suspended, days after the company confirmed the interviewee’s responses had been manipulated, Japanese media reported.

“This was due to intentional editing, with the desire to make it as entertaining as possible,” he said at a press conference as quoted by public broadcaster NHK.

“Everything about it was inappropriate.”

The TV network said a freelance producer had cherry-picked quotes from a Chinese interviewee to deliver an entertaining effect, The Asahi Shimbun newspaper reported.