However, the magazine was also widely criticized for its exposé of Tetsuya Komuro's adultery, with The Japan Times stating that the story was not favorably received and that "Japanese netizens appear to have turned against Shukan Bunshun and other scandal-baiting publications.
[10] Bunshun is also known for sensationalist headlines and texts that put the subjects they deal with in a bad light because, in a system in which advertising profits are increased by the number of contacts, what matters is attracting the attention of readers.
According the "concept that interest (attention) is economically superior to quality of information"[11] has led to cases like the one noted by the lecturer at Kanda University of International Studies Jeffrey J.
[12] In January 1984, Shūkan Bunshun reported the suspicion that Kazuyoshi Miura, a trading company owner, had someone shoot and kill his wife Kazumi in Los Angeles in November 1981 to obtain a huge insurance payout.
[13][14] They also reported the suspicion that Miura murdered his lover, Chizuko Shiraishi, in Los Angeles in 1979 and withdrew a large sum of money from her account.
[19][20][21] In 1989, Shūkan Bunshun uncovered and published the identities of the four male teenagers (Hiroshi Miyano, Jō Ogura, Shinji Minato, and Yasushi Watanabe) who abducted, raped, tortured and then subsequently murdered Junko Furuta on the grounds that, given the severity of the crime, the accused did not deserve to have their right to anonymity upheld.
[27] Johnny & Associates sued Shukan Bunshun for defamation, and in 2002, the Tokyo District Court ruled in favor of Kitagawa, awarding him ¥8.8 million in damages.
[28] In 2001 Bunshun accused Mitsuo Kagawa, a professor at Beppu University of fraud after the alleged Japanese Paleolithic findings made by amateur archaeologist Shinichi Fujimura.
After Mainichi Shimbun revealed the truth behind Fujimura's archaeological fraud, Bunshun alleged that the stone tools discovered in Ōita Prefecture had also been forgeries done by professor Mitsuo Kagawa.
[32] In the July 19, 2012 issue, it was reported that a female desk worker in the company's economic department was working from an apartment in Tokyo where the then president of Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Tsuneo Kita , lived.
"[34] Bungeishunju was condemned to publish apology advertisements in Nikkei and Bunshun, pay compensation of 12.1 million yen, and delete articles and photos posted on the website.
On June 30, 2014, Bushun was ordered to pay compensation of 2.2 million yen to Hideo Higashikokubaru for a defamatory article published in 2012, in which the then governor of Miyazaki Prefecture was accused of unbecoming behavior towards female employees.
[47] In January 2016, popular female TV tarento, Becky's reputation dived after Shukan Bunshun revealed that she had an affair with musician Enon Kawatani who at the time was married.
[50] According to some commentators, the sharp difference between the consequences of the affair for her compared to those for Enon, highlights Japan's double standards for women in the entertainment world.
[51] In March 2016, Sean McArdle Kawakami's career as a Japanese news and business commentator came to an abrupt end after Shukan Bunshun revealed a fabricated academic background that included claims of an MBA from the world-famous Harvard Business School, as well as further false claims to have graduated from Temple University and conducted a Study abroad at Pantheon Sorbonne, University of Paris 1.
[53] In the aftermath of the initial article, further revelations followed, that the headquarters of the governing Liberal Democratic Party had transferred an unusually large amount of 150 million yen to the local Hiroshima office, prior to the election.