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Facing a disaster “beyond imagination” was not just a huge challenge for those reporting from the Japan earthquake and tsunami, but it created new battles for the union representing those media workers affected.



Addressing delegates at the UNI MEI General Assembly, NIPPORO's Masatoshi Nakamura - based at public broadcaster NHK - said the tragedy had also affected the relationship between public service broadcasters and their audience.



Following a disaster on such an extraordinary scale, it was natural that people had “awakened” and been more likely to criticise the government for its slow response, and the media for not satisfactorily responding to what audience had expected, he said.



Speaking outside the conference room he later said that while training on such events as earthquakes was provided to members at NHK, the 2011 disaster had been “beyond our imagination”, with the first batch of around 100 staff sent to a scene resembling a war zone. Not only were they working among the dead, dying and traumatised, they were doing so with no food and water, shelter or proper infrastructure.



“As a trade union we were trying to work out what was necessary. At least once a day we asked those staff to try to move to an area where there was some electricity, so we could keep in contact.”



The biggest problem was an ethical one, he said. “There were people dying, how can you imagine filming people in those circumstances? People were asking the journalists for gasoline to take their relatives to hospital – what do you do?”



The union asked the employer to rotate the staff so they wouldn't be working at the scene for too long. But, with so many people suffering in the tragedy, it was a “sensitive” issue, with the employer not wanting the public to think its staff were being treated as a special case.



Since the disaster, in March 2011, NIPPORO has negotiated with NHK to provide counselling for those affected and for physical checks to be carried out on those workers anxious about their exposure to radiation during the subsequent nuclear disaster.



“Both the union and the company realized that there might be many staff who were exposed to radiation immediately after the tsunami.



“But the union was seeking how to assist those staff in a frustrating situation where it was not in a position to officially negotiate such a sensitive issue with the company,” he said.



“Even now, we don't know the criteria for safety in the area, so it is very difficult for us.”



The other task is to try to repair the relationship with the audience, he said. The union is involved in discussions about how to serve the people directly affected – who predominantly want information about future tsunamis – and the majority of viewers and listeners who live in other areas and have deeper concerns about the nuclear accident issue.



“We are discussing with the company about how we should deliver those messages from the point of view of public broadcasting,” he added.