Tokyo Olympic organizers are threatening legal action against a weekly magazine over its report on plans for the Opening Ceremony, raising concerns among legal experts about freedom of expression guaranteed under the Constitution.

Publisher Bungei Shunju has already bluntly rejected the demand of the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic organizing committee to collect copies of the April 1 issue of Shukan Bunshun, which ran the story, and delete all online versions of the article.

The committee’s protest cites an illegal leak and spread of “top secret” information.

“It (the protest) is not intended to restrict freedom of the press at all,” Seiko Hashimoto, president of the organizing committee, said at a news conference on April 2. “But the magazine obtained 280 pages of internal documents. We concluded that it obstructed our business operations by intentionally spreading secret information of the organizing committee.”

The magazine article carried multiple images of what appears to be documents used in a presentation for the International Olympic Committee on plans for the Opening Ceremony.

“Copying the documents and publishing them directly online or in a magazine constitutes a duplication of copyrighted works,” said a lawyer who heads the legal division of the Tokyo organizing committee.

The committee said it might seek compensation from Bungei Shunju for additional costs if the Opening Ceremony program must be changed because of the magazine’s report, according to a source close to the committee.

Another source said the committee is taking a hard-line stance against the magazine to “raise questions about information management.”

The organizing committee is consulting police over the matter and started an internal probe.

The committee also asked leading advertising agency Dentsu Inc., which is commissioned for producing the Opening and Closing ceremonies, to thoroughly investigate the leak of the information and report the results.

“I want the organizing committee to ensure good governance,” Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike told reporters on April 2.

In a statement issued the same day, Shukan Bunshun’s editorial department rebutted the organizing committee’s claim.

“Reporting on inside stories of the Opening Ceremony, where a massive amount of taxpayers’ money has been allegedly wasted, is in the high interest of the public,” the statement said.

EXPERTS: FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AT RISK

“The organizing committee’s protest is highly problematic because it could threaten freedom of expression guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution,” said Yoko Shida, a professor of the Constitution at Musashino Art University.

She pointed out that media coverage of inside stories of the Olympic extravaganza, which is using a huge amount of taxpayers’ money, responds to the public’s right to know and well serves the public interest.

“The organizing committee brought up the Copyright Law and other issues in filing the protest,” Shida said. “That could give the public the wrong impression that there is a legal issue in (Shukan) Bunshun’s report and may diminish its value.”

Shukan Bunshun has run inside stories on the organizing committee’s operations. It revealed that Hiroshi Sasaki, then creative chief of the Opening and Closing ceremonies, exchanged text messages insulting the appearance of Naomi Watanabe, a popular comedian and actress, with members in charge of the ceremonies. He was later forced to resign from the post.

“The Opening Ceremony represents the nation’s cultural level,” Shida said. “Many members of the public are wondering whether the ceremony will be suitable for current Japanese society, and Shukan Bunshun has responded to such questions.”

She also urged the organizing committee, as a public entity in charge of a national project, to sincerely respond to interviews and criticism by media outlets. Shida said the committee should never act in a way that silences the media even if their reports strike a weak point.

Another expert said the organizing committee’s claim that Shukan Bunshun violated the Copyright Law cannot be justified.

“The text of the article by Shukan Bunshun did not violate (the organizing committee’s) copyright,” said Tatsuhiro Ueno, a professor at Waseda University who is well-versed in intellectual property rights.

The Copyright Law allows the media to use copyrighted works “within a scope that is justified” as long as it is for reporting purposes, according to Ueno. The provision will highly likely be applied for the Shukan Bunshun’s report, he said.

“Publishing images of documents used for the presentation is also likely considered ‘within a scope that is justified’ since the report is aimed at breaking a story on the operations of the Opening Ceremony,” Ueno said. “If such use of copyrighted works is prohibited, media outlets will need to obtain permission from the copyright owners before using their works in news reports, resulting in a restriction on freedom of the press.”