We Only Warned Channels TV Over IPOB Interview, Says NBC

• The NBC has faced criticism since Monday when news of its action against Channels TV was made public
• The alleged suspension has been viewed as an attack on media freedom and independence

The National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) says it only warned Channels TV and did not suspend the station’s operations over the broadcast of an interview with a leader of an outlawed group, IPOB.

The NBC’s Public Affairs Director, Franca Aiyetan, said the letter is a regulatory instrument to warn the TV station against the repetition of the controversial interview held on its Politics Today programme on Sunday night.

Read also: Channels’ Suspension: We’ll Not Watch Media Houses Be Threatened By Agencies – NGE

She said the letter is a “regulatory instrument and these letters go to stations to either caution, warn or draw their attention to what they are doing right or wrong and when this is done twice, what follows is fine.”

“It is actually mischievous that it comes on air and what the letter was saying was calling Channels attention to a particular programme that the commission felt was not handled professionally or ethically and calling their attention to the gravity of the offence. The quote says if you do this you are likely to be shut down with a fine and afterwards it says desist from that programme. It didn’t say stop that programme.

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“The letter was drawing their attention to the gravity of the programme they held and they were advised to take it or stop it.

“It was not a malicious thing. It was a hype; you can see that Channels is still up carrying some of NBC’s programmes. It is hyped because of the tension in the society and NBC is saying that the duty of journalism, especially broadcasting stations, is to douse this tension rather than heightening it. That is what the ethics say.”