Anyone who insults Buhari or government officials will be punished- NBC
The National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) has re-stated its commitment to wielding the big stick against any broadcast station that violates any of its code. It warned that all broadcast stations should be guided by the ethics and code of the profession.
The Commission said this on Thursday, referencing the provisions of the Broadcasting Code: Section 3.1.: Professional Rules: 3.1.1: which states that
“No broadcast shall encourage or incite to crime, lead to public disorder or hate, be repugnant to public feelings or contain an offensive reference to any person or organization, alive or dead or generally be disrespectful to human dignity. And code: 3.1.19: The broadcast shall not transmit content that denigrates the social norms, values and culture of the society”.
READ ALSO: Hate speech: NBC fine Nigeria Info N5m
Chibuike Ogwumike, zonal director of the NBC Lagos office, in his letter to newsmen, issued a terse and laconic warning to broadcasters not to offer themselves as a medium for anybody to ‘insult’ Nigerian leaders.
He said: “Monitoring activities indicate that in the recent time, some broadcast stations have abdicated their editorial responsibilities such that guests and callers on programmes abuse and insult leaders and those in authority freely and without caution.
“To denigrate our elders and leaders in abusive terms is not our culture. We respect our leaders as a positive cultural value. “We expect Broadcasters, especially anchors to show professionalism in the handling of programmes such that guest or callers that exhibit such tendency are professionally handled. “The recourse to abusing, denigrating and insulting the President, Governors, MPs and other leaders does not show us as cultured people.”
The Commission’s warning comes on the heels of a recent review of the National Broadcasting Code, which saw a ten-fold increment of the penalty for hate speech, sparking widespread criticism from Civil Organizations and the Nigerian populace. The NBC as at Thursday has already penalized Nigeria Info, a Lagos based radio station, demonstrating ample evidence to butress the fact that they would not be taking any prisoners as far as violation of its code goes.
