TV TOKYO News Programs feature their newscasters wearing masks, will other stations follow?

Earlier this month, TV Tokyo became the first TV station in Japan to feature their newscasters wearing masks in an effort to promote mask wearing as the numbers of novel coronavirus infections increase in Tokyo.

TV TOKYO PR said to J-CAST News on January 19th, “We have kept a sufficient distance between performers and staff to prevent the infection. However, as the infection throughout the city spreads, we thought it was necessary to further strengthen the infection countermeasures in the studio, so newscasters will be wearing a mask when talking with each other. There may be times when it may be difficult to hear but we appreciate everyone’s understanding”.

A survey was taken in regards to the approval that it was a good idea for TV Tokyo newscasters to wear a mask and 86% said “yes”, newscasters should wear a mask.

J-CAST News did ask other stations with TV Asahi PR saying “We will continue to comply with the program production guidelines carefully and will refrain from answering the broadcast content of other stations”.

TBS responded to J-CAST news and said, “In the news program, we are currently all staff are wearing masks, installed acrylic boards in the studio to secure a sufficient distance between the performers and having guests perform remotely in the studio. We are giving top priority to preventing infections, such as reducing the number of people in the program as much as possible. We will keep an eye on future infections and take appropriate measures to determine whether or not to take further measures”.

Fuji TV PR told J-CAST, “At this point, we believe that the studio is taking various measures against infection, such as ensuring sufficient social distance, increasing remote appearances and installing acrylic boards”.

NHK’s Director of Broadcasting, Masanori Satoshi said that hearing-impaired viewers sometimes understand the conversations by looking at the mouths and facial expressions.

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