The National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) says it fined
some broadcast stations over the coverage of the #EndSARS protests because they
were “reckless”.
During an Arise TV programme on Wednesday, Armstrong
Idachaba, acting director-general of the commission, said some of the
broadcasters aired fake videos during the campaign.
On October 26, the NBC sanctioned Channels Television, ARISE
Television and Africa Independent Television (AIT) for “unprofessional
coverage” of the #EndSARS protests.
The three stations were accused of airing “unverified images
of alleged shooting.”
But many individuals and groups condemned the action of the
NBC, accusing the commission of muzzling the free press.
Idachaba, however, said the commission’s decision was in
order, saying “the onus is on the broadcaster to verify (any information
aired), not on the regulator.”
“We had to impose a sanction because we found out that in
the coverage of the #EndSARS campaign that many broadcasters began to be
reckless in the coverage of the crisis,” he said.
“You are the one that owns the platform, you are the
disseminator of information. The ethical burden is on you to ensure that before
you churn out, you do your check.
“Rather than come up with facts of the issues, we began to
see deliberate distortions, manipulated storylines, fake infusions and
intrusions into the narrative, graphic presentations that rather than help to
reduce the situation more or less aggravated.
“We saw spurious claims, misrepresentation of facts and
these are in clear violation of the provision of the broadcasting code. We
began to wonder at that time whether broadcasters have totally abdicated their
ethical requirements.”
Asked how the NBC concluded that the videos broadcast were
false as some had been verified, the acting DG responded, “it is out there in
the public.”
“Some of the videos
you showed, the footages that came out, some of the people they claimed died on
the location came out to say they are alive,” he added.
“Traditional broadcasters increasingly are beginning to
become victims of social media. They are beginning to be drawn into the lack of
professionalism of user-generated journalists.”
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