Japanese media conglomerate Fuji’s dedicated hotline for sexual harassment cases opened today (10 Feb), part of sweeping reform measures at the 68-year-old company.

The hotline, which will be managed by the independent third party investigation committee, will be open until 24 February.

The “revitalisation and reform” measures, including the hotline, follows the ill-managed sexual harassment scandal involving TV personality Masahiro Nakai. 

The scandal has commanded headlines since December, heaping shareholder ire on the company’s board and sending advertisers fleeing.

Both Fuji TV’s chairman, Shuji Kano, and president, Koichi Minato, resigned on 27 January. Senior managing director, Kenji Shimizu, took over as Fuji TV representative director/president the next day (28 January 2025).

In the wake of the scandal, an independent Third-Party Committee was established on 23 January 2025 by Fuji Media Holdings and Fuji Television Network. 

In a statement today (10 Feb), Fuji said the Third-Party Committee would “investigate the current issue involving an entertainer and a woman, as well as similar cases”. 

Fuji asked “those who have experienced harassment while participating in meetings hosted by Fuji Television employees from April 2016 onwards” to contact the hotline. 

Today’s announcement follows last week’s decision to establish a ‘revitalisation and reform’ unit at Fuji TV. 

The company, which has acknowledged that shareholder trust has been undermined by the scandal, said the revitalisation project would “directly address issues, review the organisation, and aim to rebuild trust and the brand”.

A separate statement to shareholders at the end of January said that “through fully transparent business operations, Fuji Media Holdings will be genuinely committed to rebuilding public trust in the entire group”. 

Multiple working groups, such as “Prevention of Recurrence and Organisational Reform”, will be established under the new revitalisation headquarters, which has a mandate to move quickly to implement “specific and effective reforms”.  

Fuji says the reform process will focus initially on “prevention of recurrence and organisational reform”.

The company said the aim was to “create a workplace where everyone can work comfortably and where personal opinions are respected”. The first changes will be made in areas such as “human rights awareness training, expansion of internal reporting systems, and review of notification methods”.

Fuji’s new leaders have clearly identified “challenges... particularly in the operation of compliance and governance as a result of the scandal, and have promised action and change.  

“Fuji Television and Fuji Media Holdings Inc have entrusted a third-party committee with the investigation, but necessary measures will be implemented voluntarily, and more appropriate actions will be taken based on the results of the investigation,” the company said earlier this month. 

Meanwhile Fuji Media Holdings has revised its financial forecasts for the year to end March 2025.

In a note to shareholders, the company said it expected net income to be 66.2% lower than originally forecast as a result of the scandal fallout and its impact on Fuji TV’s advertising. 

Previous forecasts for the year to 31 March 2025 put net income at ¥29 billion/US$191 million. This is expected to drop to ¥9.8 billion/US$65 million. Net sales for the year are expected to drop by ¥50.1 billion/US$331 million. 

The company attributed the drops solely to advertisers’ decision to suspend their commercials on Fuji TV, which replaced the spots with public service announcements. Future ad placements were also cancelled. 

 “To maintain the trust it has built with advertisers and encourage the early resumption of ad placements, Fuji TV has decided not to charge advertising fees” for the ads that were pulled or for cancellation of future campaigns. 

“As a result, a significant decline in advertising revenue for the fourth quarter is expected at Fuji TV,” the company said.