| Jiji Press Ltd. | |
| Type: | Private employee-owned KK |
| Native Name: | 株式会社 時事通信社 |
| Native Name Lang: | ja |
| Romanized Name: | Kabushiki gaisha Jiji Tsūshin-sha |
| Predecessor: | Domei Tsushin |
| Hq Location: | Ginza 5-15-8 |
| Hq Location City: | Chuo, Tokyo |
| Hq Location Country: | Japan |
| Num Locations: | 78 offices in Japan, 28 offices overseas |
| Key People: | Masao Omuro (President) |
| Net Income: | 262 million yen (2016) |
| Assets: | 38 billion yen (2016) |
| Equity: | 21 billion yen (2016) |
| Num Employees: | 862 |
| Footnotes: | 2016 financials: http://www.jiji.com/c_profile/pdf/balance201603.pdf |
is a news agency in Japan.
Jiji was formed in November 1945 following the breakup of Domei Tsushin, the government-controlled news service responsible for disseminating information prior to and during World War II. Jiji inherited Domei's business-oriented news operations, while Kyodo News inherited its general public-oriented news operations. In later years Jiji developed ties with UPI, the Associated Press, AFP, Reuters and other international news organizations.[1]
In 2011, Jiji reported that Olympus CEO Michael Woodford blackmailed company management into appointing him CEO in exchange for promises to cover up an accounting fraud scandal. Woodford argued that "the so-called unnamed sources at Olympus had clearly lied, [and] Jiji had without proper scrutiny and challenge simply reported those lies." Jiji later withdrew the report and apologized.[2]
In 2012, Jiji president Masahiro Nakata resigned after it was found that a Jiji writer in Washington, D.C. copied an article wired by Kyodo News.[3]
Jiji is run as an employee-owned corporation and is not publicly traded, nor does it have non-employee shareholders. Jiji has news bureaus throughout Japan and in many major cities worldwide.
Jiji is the third-largest shareholder in Dentsu, holding 5.85% of the outstanding stock (16.9 million shares) as of December 2016.[4]