The National Broadcasting Commission on Wednesday said Daar Communications Plc was being deliberately mischievous in its coverage of the Presidential Elections Petition Tribunal.
The organisation threatened to axe the African Independent Television should the station fail to repent.
The Director-General of NBC, Is’haq Modibbo Kawu, issued the threat in Abuja during a press briefing after its second quarter monitoring of broadcast stations from April to June, 2019.
He said about 45 stations were fined in the first quarter over “hateful, abusive and inflammatory broadcast, which peaked during the elections.”
According to him, the trend had continued in the second quarter among certain stations, especially in political programmes.
Kawu identified Section 1.16.1(f), the law of contempt, relating to matter pending before law courts and Section 5.1.12 which stipulated that news and current affairs programmes shall be guided by the ethical standards of journalism.
He said, “The constant repetition of the broadcast meant that AIT was being deliberately mischievous since it blatantly refused to heed the observations and warnings of the regulatory institution. They also intentionally refused to tell the other side of this (tribunal) judgment.
“The clip portrayed security agencies as an apparatus of violence for the presidency. The station also portrayed the judiciary, an independent arm of government, as a common tool being used by the executive.
“These actions of AIT are in contravention of Sections 1.3.4, 3.3.1a, 3.3.1b, 3.11.1, 3.11.2 and 5.1.2 of the Nigeria Broadcasting Code. Consequently, we are constrained to warn AIT that its continued willful disregard for regulation and persistent breaches of the Nigeria Broadcasting Code will be met with the very severe sanctions that the new 6th edition of the code has prescribed.
“May we seize this opportunity to caution stations about a pattern of behaviour, which we must mention, is a threat to our democracy and the rule of law. Our monitoring activities indicate that some stations, especially AIT, are deliberately meddling in the cases before the election tribunal.”
Kawu said about 20 stations were fined in the second quarter for breaching provisions of the Nigeria Broadcasting Code on hate speech and obscene and vulgar lyrics.
He said, “A total of 10 stations were fined for infractions related to use of vulgar lyrics and obscene content. It is worth mentioning that the programme, Big Brother NAIJA, was cautioned against unwholesome content on its broadcast.
In obscenity, the NBC said Kaduna Zone recorded highest with 36.53 per cent followed by Abuja Zone with 17.31 per cent and Uyo Zone which came third with 15.38 per cent.
It added that in hate speech, Abuja Zone topped the chart with 19.21 per cent followed by Kaduna zone with 18.22 per cent and Maiduguri Zone came third with a record of 15.27 per cent, while the least in hate speech was Ibadan zone with 6.89 per cent.
