Activists fault NBC, insist there are other ways of redressing grouse
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Rights activists have criticised the N2 million fine each imposed on Arise TV and Channels Television by the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) for unknowingly reporting on Sunday a false statement credited to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The statement claimed the INEC was investigating drug trafficking allegations against Bola Tinubu, the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (apc).
The INEC denied issuing the statement on Sunday and Arise TV retracted its report and apologised to Tinubu the same day.
The APC Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) lodged a complaint with the NBC on Monday and on the same day its Director General Balarabe Ilelah issued a statement saying the broadcast was unprofessional and imposed the fines.
The Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership (CACOL) defended the sanction, saying the stations should have verified the statement before broadcasting it.
But Transition Monitoring Group (TMG) and the International Press Centre (ICP) both described the fines is an overreach, particularly as the stations apologised for an error that was not intentional.
Everything shouldn’t be monetised
TMG Executive Director Auwal Rafsanjani said sanctioning Arise TV is not fair since the broadcaster retracted the story and apologised, according to The PUNCH.
“It is important that we try as much as possible to verify information before it is sent out.
“However, the idea of trial by all means to sanction a media station over a report that did not emanate from it is not balanced and not also fair, especially when the media had openly come out to openly apologise.
“I think the NBC is just trying to show that it is working but that is not the only way to show that you’re actually working. If the media had denied or refused to apologise, that is a different thing.
“The apology should have been taken in good faith. We don’t need to monetise or commercialise every aspect of our life.”
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NBC acting with bias, says IPC
IPC Director Lanre Arogundade said the NBC is acting like it represents a politician.
“It wasn’t the NBC that discovered the fake news. It was the station on its own that came out and said something was wrong,” he argued, per reporting by The PUNCH.
“In any case, having given the apology, the person involved in the news item, in this instance the presidential candidate of the APC, since he’s aggrieved, should go to court. There are legal options that could be employed.”
Nigeria Guild of Editors (NGE) President Mustapha Isa said he is not aware of the fines.
CACOL justifies sanctions
However, CACOL Chairman Debo Adeniran expressed disappointment at Arise TV, saying its owners and staff have enough experience to prevent making such a mistake.
“The owners and staff of Arise TV are supposed to be thorough-bred journalists. And the rule in journalism is that ‘when you’re in doubt, leave out.’ It is not just one way that you can crosscheck a material before you use it as your content.
“As a matter of fact, they should have their own personnel in places where these news are breaking,” Adeniran said.
“There was no point in them rushing to the press with news that they knew could be libelous and scandalous because of the experience they had garnered over the years.
“Yes, they have made that mistake. It is good enough that they have been so humble to apologise, but then, if the rules of the NBC says that anybody that broadcast fake news should be sanctioned, then they should be sanctioned, at least, it would deter others who want to rush to the press.
“Everybody that had done that, whether or not with the intention of embarrassing the subject of the issue, if they had violated the rule of ethics, they should be made to face the law.”
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