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The trigger was a book published by the former Asahi Shimbun Dubai bureau chief

There is a heated debate among media people as to whether a retired reporter should write regarding what he covered in his previous job.

It was triggered by Yoshiyuki Ito, the former head of the Asahi Shimbun’s Dubai bureau.Villain Infiltration 300 Days Dubai Garthy Gang(Kodansha) is a book.

Yoshikazu Azumaya, also known as Garthy, is a former member of the House of Councilors and is on the international wanted list. Mr. Ito, who interviewed Garthy in April 2022 when he was the head of the Dubai bureau, conflicted with the Asahi Shimbun over the publication of the interview and retired from the company in August of the same year. After that, he continued his own research and wrote this book.

I had heard from an acquaintance in the publishing industry that “that book seems to be selling quite well,” so I was curious. However, I had no interest in Garthy, so I didn’t pick it up.

However, I was surprised to hear that the Asahi Shimbun lodged a protest once morest Mr. Ito, the author of “Akutou,” and the publisher, Kodansha.

The saying, “Don’t write regarding what you interviewed while you were working, even if you quit.”

On March 28, the Asahi Shimbun posted on its website, “We protested the unauthorized use of interview information.” According to Asahi’s site, the statement is as follows.

Journalist Declaration. Asahi Shimbun (Photo: MIKI Yoshihito/CC-BY-2.0/Wikimedia Commons）

According to the rules of employment, works such as articles written by retirees as part of their duties while they were employed are deemed to be works for employment, the copyright of which belongs to the head office, regardless of whether they were published in newspapers, etc., and unauthorized use is permitted. Is not …

In addition, the description of this book includes a lot of information that Mr. Ito interviewed during his tenure. This information is subject to confidentiality obligations in the employment contract with the head office. Employment regulations stipulate that employees of the head office must not divulge confidential information that they have learned in the course of their work to others without justifiable reason, not only during employment but even following retirement. ”

To summarize, the Asahi Shimbun claims:

(1) The company owns the copyright of the manuscript written by the reporter, regardless of whether it was published in the newspaper or not.
(2) Don’t divulge what you interviewed during your tenure even following you retire “without justifiable reason”.

In short, even if you quit, don’t write regarding what you covered while you were working.