During an online executive meeting on Feb. 3, former Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, in his capacity as president of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics organizing committee, made a contemptuous comment regarding women when asked about his committee’s plan to increase the number of female board members to more than 40% of the total.
The New York Times began reporting with a fact-based story that “On Twitter, users quickly began calling for Mori to resign,” while others “suggested Mori’s age, and his outdated attitude, were the real problem” or “expressed dismay” that “no one in the meeting had objected in the moment.”
On Feb. 9, however, The Times carried an article with a misleading headline of “Olympics Chief Said Sorry for Demeaning Women. In Japan, That’s Often Enough.” The article also said, “Yoshiro Mori’s resistance to calls for his resignation shows the power of a male-dominated old guard that is mostly unaccountable to public opinion.”