Tokyo Electric Power Co. has started showing to media groups and journalists 150 hours of teleconference footage recorded during the first days of the nuclear crisis at its Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. It is deplorable that Tepco did not volunteer to show the footage earlier. At first it refused to disclose it, citing the need to protect the privacy of Tepco employees and subcontract workers. It only agreed to disclose the footage after trade and industry minister Yukio Edano prodded the company to do so.

Although it agreed to release the footage, Tepco attached various conditions to showing the footage, including restrictions on the activities of journalists. Tepco's attitude will deepen mistrust over its activities. It will convey the message that Tepco is not taking serious its responsibility for a disaster that made large areas of Fukushima Prefecture uninhabitable and uprooted the lives of tens of thousands of people.

Given the scale of the disaster, the video footage should never have been regarded as Tepco's private property. It is indispensable in revealing the truth of the unprecedented nuclear disaster. The video footage may provide answers to crucial questions such as whether Tepco planned a full pullout from the plant. It also covers exchanges between the prime minister's office and Tepco over the pumping of sea water into the No. 1 reactor and the release of radiation into the atmosphere. At the very least, media access to this material must be guaranteed, and the government should take steps to ensure the video footage becomes part of the public record.