NBC fines pay TV platforms over docs


By Content Nigeria reporter
August 9, 2022

News

Nigeria’s National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) has imposed N5m fines on various pay TV platforms for airing documentaries that it said contravened the broadcasting code.

MultiChoice Nigeria, TelCom Satellite (TStv) and NTA-Startimes aired a documentary by BBC Africa Eye titled The Bandit Warlords of Zamfara which, according to the commission, glorified the activities of bandits and undermined national security in Nigeria.

Trust-TV, meanwhile, was also fined N5m for its documentary Nigeria’s Banditary – The Inside Story.

In a press release, NBC emphasised the need to educate, inform and enlighten the public on issues within and outside the country but also advised broadcasters to be circumspect and deliberate in the choice and carriage of content.

“No broadcast shall encourage or incite crime, lead to public disorder or hate, be repugnant to public feelings or contain offensive reference to any person or organisation, alive or dead, or generally be disrespectful to human dignity,” it said.

Section 3.12.2 of the code says: “The broadcaster shall not transmit a programme that incites or likely to incite violence among the populace, causing mass panic, political and social upheaval, security breach and general social disorder.”

Section 3.11.2 says: “The broadcaster shall ensure that law enforcement is upheld at all times in a manner depicting that law and order are socially superior to, or more desirable than crime or anarchy.

The NBC added: “The imposed penalties on these broadcast media platforms and stations are to be remitted not later than August 30, 2022. Failure to comply with this will lead to the imposition of a higher sanction as provided in the code.”