National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) has come under fire for fining Arise TV, Channels Television and the African Independent Television (AIT) about N3m each for alleged “unprofessional coverage” of EndSARS protests and the use of unverifiable social media reports.
Acting Director-General of NBC, Prof. Armstrong Idachaba, who announced the punitive measures yesterday, in Abuja, had alleged that at the early stage of the protest, reports available to the commission indicated the broadcast industry largely gave a fair and balanced coverage but the trend became completely reversed when violence, wanton destruction and looting were introduced.
Idachaba alleged that “Channels Television, Arise TV and AIT especially continued to transmit footages obtained from unverified and unauthenticated social media sources, adding that the pictures stimulated anger and heightened the violence that was witnessed during the crisis.”
But the Nigeria Union of Journalists has urged the NBC to immediately withdraw the fines.
NUJ, which called for an end to contempt and disrespect for the Media by NBC, said the fines were unnecessary, discriminatory, an attempt to discourage a free, independent media, and should be withdrawn immediately.
In a statement, yesterday, in Abuja, the National President of the union, Mr. Chris Isiguzo, observed that the NBC decision further exposed the nation’s anti-democratic tendencies.
Reacting, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) said the rush to impose fines on television stations by the NBC smacked of a fresh attempt to further gag the media, suppress free speech and Nigerians’ access to information.
The party, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, said the clampdown had heightened widespread public apprehension of attempts at concealments of details and suppression of material evidence relating to human rights violations during the protest
Similarly, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) yesterday condemned the fines, describing them as unconstitutional and illegal.
The group also threatened legal action against the NBC if the fines were not rescinded within 48 hours.