For the second time in about two months, the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) wielded the big stick: it fined three broadcast stations – Arise News, Channels Television and AIT – about N3 million each, for allegedly violating broadcasting codes. The commission accused the stations of broadcasting footages on the Lekki shootings, allegedly by soldiers of the Nigerian Army, from unauthenticated social media sources. Acting director-general of the commission, Prof. Armstrong Idachaba, announced the fines at a press conference in Abuja, threatening that “any further breach will lead to the withdrawal of licence.”
Media houses must operate responsibly. That is to say they must be guided by the ethics of the profession because of the sensitive nature of their business. As a matter of fact, we deplore the dysfunctional purposes that some of the social media handles served in the #EndSARS protests, which were believed to have inflamed passion that led to the violent turn that the otherwise peaceful protest assumed, leading to loss of lives and destruction of private and public property.
However, much as we acknowledge the need for some form of regulation of the industry as in most other sectors, we are worried about the awesome powers that the commission wields. “Power”, they say, “corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely”. This paper believes that the commission or any government agency for that matter, cannot serve as accuser, prosecutor and judge in its own cause. This kind of provision in its new code, which has been a subject of controversy since it was made public, is a carry-over from the military era. Indeed, it easily reminds one of the obnoxious Decree Four of 1984 promulgated by the then General Muhammadu Buhari as head of state. Is it then a mere coincidence that we are having this kind of broadcasting code with awesome powers vested in the government agency that regulates the sector under an administration presided over by the same person, now as a civilian president? Such powers should not be vested in any single public agency in a democratic setting; they should only belong in the inglorious era of military dictatorship.
Much as it is good for media houses to authenticate the veracity of the stories they carry before publication or broadcast, it is important to stress that because a report is not verified before it is served the public does not necessarily make it false.
Moreover, the way government business is run here makes it difficult to get news from government sources. For instance, for days, the nation waited for answers to the question of whether soldiers of the Nigerian Army were the ones that fired the fatal shots that allegedly killed some of the #EndSARS protesters at Lekki in Lagos. If they were, who gave them the order? We are still waiting for answers to the questions, more than two weeks after.
The secrecy with which government business is shrouded does not make the job of journalists hungry for information easy, especially in this age of IT that enhances reporting events as they occur. It behoves the government to compel its agencies to timeously respond to enquiries on matters of public interest, in line with the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act, which many government agencies obey more in the breach. The situation is worsened by the fact that some of our government officials even prefer to give first-hand information to foreign media before giving same to their local counterparts. All of these are encumbrances to the practice of journalism, especially in an age of stiff competition, with especially the social media.
As we stated earlier, and even as in our previous editorial on the NBC code under which the commission has assumed its draconian powers, we believe the affected media houses should take the commission to court. We also support the decision of the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), to challenge the imposition of the fines on the broadcast stations in court.
NBC’s amended code which purportedly gives the commission this latitude presumes that governments and or their agencies will always act in the overall national interest. We all know this is not necessarily so, at least not in our kind of environment.
Broadcast houses do not have to be studying the body language of those running the NBC or the government before airing their programmes; this does not augur well for free speech or democracy. There are enough laws in our statute books to punish any erring media house. The resort to strong-arm tactics that the new NBC code is portends grave danger for the country. It is not funny that the same Idachaba who condemned the mob assault on newspapers attacked by hoodlums recently as attempts to muzzle the press is doing the same under the guise of acting in official capacity. No agency of government should have the power of life and death, especially over the media.
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