Broadcasters ‘Were Reckless’ in Coverage of #EndSARS Protests, Claims Nigeria’s Broadcast Regulator

The National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) says the commission imposed sanctions on broadcast stations because they were reckless in the coverage of the #EndSARS protests.

Last month, NBC fined media houses including ARISE News, AIT, and Channels TV claiming they used unverifiable video footage from social media to cover the #EndSARS protests.

“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,” Professor Armstrong Idachaba, the Acting Director-General of the commission said when he appeared on ARISE News.

 

While commending the professionalism of ARISE news displayed during the coverage of the protest, Idachaba said the commission witnessed a dramatic turnaround in broadcasters reportage when the protests got violent.

“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,” he said.

Abel Ejikeme

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