By Lucky Barth, Abuja.
The National Broadcasting Commission in Nigeria has decried the unprofessional conduct of some Television stations during the EndSars protests and as a result sanctioned them.
The stations include Channels Television, Africa Independent Television, and Arise TV.
However, regardless of the sanction meted on some TV stations, the Commission condemn in total ter
The National Broadcasting Commission in Nigeria has decried the unprofessional conduct of some Television stations during the EndSars protests and as a result sanctioned them.
The stations include Channels Television, Africa Independent Television, and Arise TV.
However, regardless of the sanction meted on some TV stations, the Commission condemn in total terms the assault and intimidation of media houses.
The Commission said the burning of Television Continental (TVC) Lagos, The brief closure of Channels TV Lagos are all worrisome indicators of mob treat to the freedom of the press.
The NBC warned that such actions are undemocratic and that no nation can grow when the citizens muzzle and intimidate its Press.
Addressing newsmen on Monday in Abuja, the Ag Director General of the Commission, Professor Armstrong Idachaba, said the Commission was concerned about the professional misdemeanour of some broadcasting stations in the past couple of days.
“In line with the provisions of section 5.6.9 of the Nigeria Broadcasting Code which states that; “the broadcaster shall be held liable for any breach of the Code emanation from the use of material from User Generated Sources”.
The Commission has therefore sanctioned Arise TV,Channels TV and AIT in line with the provisions of the broadcasting Code.This is to serve as deterrent to broadcasters who deliberately ignore to verify stories before they broadcast.
The Commission calls on broadcasters to always ensure that when they use UGC and Social media Sources, they must ensure their veracity and authenticity.
Professor Idachaba also revealed that with the grade B sanction, each of the sanctioned stations will pay sums ranging from 2 to 3 million naira.
“Whereas it can be said that the Nigerian Media especially the Broadcast media discharged its role professionally and most patriotic in confronting the challenge of #Covid-19 Crisis, the same cannot be said of the coverage of the recent #Endsars campaign.”
According the NBC, monitoring reports available to the Commission indicate that at the early stages of the conflict, the broadcast industry largely gave a Fair and Balanced coverage to the issues.
A trend that later became completely reversed when violence, wonton destruction and looting were added to the dimensions, Idachaba said.
“Channels Television, Arise TV and AIT especially continued to transmit footages obtained from unverified and unauthenticated Social media sources. No doubt these pictures stimulated anger and heightened the violence that was witnessed during the crisis.”
The NBC affirmed that with what transpired in the country within the few couple of weeks, the spurious and recklessness on the Social Media must not be patronised by the main stream traditional media.
“Broadcasters, who therefore dogmatically patronise the Social Media, must bury their heads in shame.
We are at the stage of our nation’s history when our broadcasters have a crucial responsibility for responsive and professional broadcasting.”
Professor Idachaba said by picking unverified, unsubstantiated Social media sources and repeating the narratives, the broadcasters in question have shown crass lack of professionalism and a disposition to be escalators of conflict and more seriously a threat to Nigeria.
It is worthy to note that Section 5.6.1 of the NBC code stipulates that in contemporary times, the impact of modern technology has significantly enabled Citizen’s contribution to journalism, which is beneficial to broadcasting.
Further, “In this genre of citizens reportage, deploys such facilities as “User Generated Content” UGC, providing instantaneous eye-witness Account of events. Such Technological benefits place further demand on the broadcaster to be more cautious of its editorial responsibility. Meanwhile, section 5.6.2: puts it that News Materials sent in by Public must be vetted by the Broadcaster who has editorial responsibility.5.6.3.
“The Broadcaster shall be mindful of materials that may embarrass individual or organisations or cause disaffection, incite to panic or rift in the Society, in the usage of UGC.”
