Japanese broadcasters reported on the recent drug case involving actress Noriko Sakai in an ‘‘overheated’’ manner that lacked warnings against drug use, a television ethics panel warned Monday.
   
In light of viewer criticism that the lengthy reports may only have served to arouse interest in drugs among younger people, the Broadcasting Ethics & Program Improvement Organization’s Broadcast Committee for Youth Programming advised TV broadcasters to correctly report on the dangers of drugs.
   
The organization received more than 500 complaints from viewers about the reporting since Sakai’s husband was arrested Aug 3 on suspicion of possessing illegal stimulant drugs, panel chairman Toshiyuki Shiomi said at a press conference.
   
Sakai and her husband, Yuichi Takaso, both admitted to possessing and taking stimulants at separate trials in late October.
   
‘‘Reporting continued for so many hours that the coverage could be described as overheated. There are questions in terms of quantity and content,’’ the panel told public broadcaster NHK and major commercial networks.
   
It advised the broadcasters to ‘‘produce programs that correctly convey the reality of the serious harm that drugs can cause and to guide young people to think and choose not to use drugs.’‘
   
It also urged the networks to avoid using catchy expressions about drugs and to report on drug issues as a social problem from various aspects, such as drug dealing as a source of finance for crime syndicates.
   
The broadcasters should report on drugs ‘‘from a standpoint of not encouraging their spread…and understand them more in depth,’’ Shiomi said.
   
The industry ethics body, known as the BPO, was jointly launched by NHK and private broadcasters in 2007 as a third party to independently examine issues involving broadcast ethics and human rights.