The Asahi Shimbun's executive adviser said Wednesday he will step down from his post and resign as chairman of the Japan Newspaper Publishers & Editors Association to take responsibility for a fabricated report published in the daily.
The incident "tarnished the trust and honor of journalism as a whole," Shinichi Hakoshima said, adding he would leave the chairman's post after the association's annual convention, which will be held on Oct. 18 and 19.
The Asahi Shimbun revealed in late August that a reporter at its Nagano bureau had fabricated a story of a meeting between Nagano Gov. Yasuo Tanaka and former Liberal Democratic Party policy chief Shizuka Kamei to discuss founding new political parties, which was reported by the newspaper.