A relative of a Tokyo family that was murdered in 2000 has filed a complaint with the nation's TV watchdog, claiming a TV Asahi program on the unsolved case misrepresented her.
An Irie, elder sister of Yasuko Miyazawa, 41, one of the four people murdered, submitted a petition to the Broadcast and Human Rights/Other Related Rights Committee of the Broadcasting Ethics & Program Improvement Organization, an independent panel promoting ethical standards in broadcasting.
In the program that aired Dec. 28 last year, a TV Asahi reporter and a former member of the U.S. FBI sought to find clues regarding the suspect through profiling.
According to Irie's complaint, the program employed staging, editing and other means to misrepresent her as supporting the former investigator's view that the family was murdered by an acquaintance bearing a strong feeling of resentment.
She is demanding a correction and an apology.
"I felt that what I had built was destroyed by this program. It is regrettable as I have accepted every kind of media interview, hoping it will lead to the case being solved," Irie told a news conference in Tokyo.
Irie, an author of children's books, has spoken publicly about her experience as a relative of crime victims.
TV Asahi said: "We provided an explanation to Ms. Irie after the program was aired, as there was a divergence of views. We have nothing to say at this point."
In the murder that occurred Dec. 30, 2000, Yasuko Miyazawa and her husband Mikio, 44, their daughter, Niina, 8, and son Rei, 6, were found murdered in their house in Setagaya Ward.
The TV watchdog was launched by NHK and private broadcasters in 2003 to improve the programing quality.