Media organizations agreed Saturday not to report on the kidnapping of a newborn baby from a Sendai hospital, a day after the incident was widely covered.
The media's unusual move to refrain from reporting on an event after it had already become news came as a written ransom demand directed at the hospital's director was found about 23 hours after the baby was abducted early Friday. The infant, Shu Yamada, was found uninjured Sunday morning.
In the past, media organizations have often agreed on initial blackouts for abductions at the request of police, based on the principle of placing priority on protecting the victims' lives, and then reporting on the matter later.
But in the Sendai case, the Miyagi Prefectural Police asked members of its press club for a media blackout accord on Saturday afternoon, saying they had determined from the contents of the ransom demand that continued reporting could endanger the baby's life.
"We were torn over how to deal with this matter," a senior National Police Agency official said. "If the media reporting on the incident suddenly stopped, it could give (the perpetrators) an odd impression."
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