The National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) says some broadcast stations didn’t bother to authenticate the veracity of the contents they used during the #EndSARS protests.
Acting director-general of the commission, Armstrong Idachaba, made this known when he featured on ARISE TV morning show programme on Wednesday.
He was reacting to the fine imposed on some Television stations by the commission.
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 gagging the free press.
But Idachaba said the fine was justified, noting that the commission fine some broadcast stations over the coverage of the #EndSARS protests because they were “reckless”..
He said “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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