Hate speech: Why broadcast stations ignored NBC/APCON directives – Stakeholders

Last week, Sunday Trust observed that television stations, particularly the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), African Independent Television (AIT) and Channels still ran some of the adverts considered at the meeting as offensive, unethical, capable of provoking negative reactions and misdirecting the society. The TV stations seemed to have ignored the NBC warning at the meeting […]

Last week, Sunday Trust observed that television stations, particularly the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), African Independent Television (AIT) and Channels still ran some of the adverts considered at the meeting as offensive, unethical, capable of provoking negative reactions and misdirecting the society. The TV stations seemed to have ignored the NBC warning at the meeting that it would sanction any erring broadcast station.
One of the eminent personalities at the meeting where NBC and APCON read riot acts to the broadcasting stations, a renowned Mass Communication lecturer at the Bayero University, Professor Umar Pate, in a telephone interview with our reporter, said he sympathized with the NBC and the NTA given the calibre of people behind the adverts. “Ideally, these people are supposed to be in charge of the regulatory system. If the adverts are coming from the ruling party whose leaders control the NBC and the NTA, what can the NBC do?” Pate wondered.
The lecturer traced the development to what he considered as the erosion of values in the country. “The political elites are expected to exhibit certain values and standard morally, officially and even in their undertakings, either in their campaigns or how they lead us. We do not expect them to perform below certain standard,” he said.
Professor Pate submitted that this is likely to have a negative effect on the nation’s broadcasting industry if nothing is done urgently to stem the tide of what is being witnessed in the name of political adverts and campaign on TV stations. He quipped, “The fact that it affects our broadcasting industry negatively shows that our standards are low. We pretend to have a regulation which we do not respect. Those who are supposed to enforce the directives are the ones violating the rules. What will they do if others too engage in the same behaviour? What this means is that things could be worse at the lower level if this is the kind of behaviour that we are exhibiting at the top and making statements we shouldn’t make. This kind of statements is not supposed to come from them no matter the frustration.”
The professor maintained that such behaviour exhibited by the stations and sponsors of the malicious documentaries and adverts does not speak well of the nation’s values and journalism profession. “It is violating every sense of decency. Those behind these sponsored advertisement and hate comments must stop and adhere to the standard and regulations of the media system. As I said earlier, we should sympathize with the NTA and NBC, given the quarters that those adverts are coming from,” he said.       
It was also observed that the sponsored adverts and documentaries against the presidential candidate of the opposition party which are considered offensive and damaging are still being run by the key broadcast stations. Some weeks ago, the opposition party petitioned the NBC over documentaries and adverts being run by the AIT and NTA against its presidential candidate, publications the party considered offensive and malicious. Even though it was agreed at the stakeholders meeting that such adverts were offensive, the TV stations, it was observed last week, still ran them for several days.
The NBC Director-General, Mr Emeka Mba  told journalists in Abuja last week after the meeting with the chief executive officers of broadcast organisations that the NBC has  received a lot of complaints and petitions across the country over the hate documentaries. He promised the Commission would follow due process in coming up with appropriate sanctions.  “We must stop all hate messages from now; if you don’t stop we are going to act. We would follow due process to revoke the licence of any erring station; I can guarantee you that”, Mba threatened.
Despite this, no serious measure appears to have been put in place by the regulatory body to ensure enforcement and compliance of its directives. It has also not been able to apply any sanction on any erring broadcast station.
The pioneer Director-General of the NBC, Dr Tom Adaba, speaking to our reporter on phone, condemned the sponsored documentaries on some personalities. He said “Ordinarily, one would have expected the regulatory body to apply sanctions on both the NTA and AIT. This should have been seen to have been done. Unfortunately, I don’t understand how the House of Representatives Committee on Information is handling this,” Dr Adaba said.
He wondered how the NBC has not been able to apply the might of its regulatory power to sanction the erring TV stations. He said, “What I don’t know is the power that is being wielded underground, knowing well that the NBC is a federal government organization. The NTA and AIT have done something that is contrary to certain principles but is in favour of the federal government and everybody is looking the other side as if nothing is happening. It is not that the NBC does not have the power; they do and it is well spelt out. The same thing goes for APCON. But I just don’t know what went wrong.”
Earlier, Dr Adaba at a Town Hall meeting on ‘The Role of The Media in Institutionalizing Issue-Based Electoral Campaigns’ held in Abuja at the weekend berated the media for  jumping on the bandwagon in the name of seeking patronage. “This is unacceptable,” he declared. He argued that some media houses have contributed to the spate of political violence in the country.  
It would be recalled that at a one-day Broadcast Stakeholders’ meeting held at the Conference Hall of NICON Luxury Hotel, Abuja some days ago, eminent personalities who were in attendance agreed that a lot of damage has been done to the integrity of broadcasting in the country by the conduct of some broadcast stations in political broadcast because most of the sponsored political discourse being aired are not issue-based. They maintained that they were attacks on personalities rather than on scrutiny of the track records of candidates in relation to their campaign promises.

A communiqué that was issued at the meeting reads:
“Political adverts must be backed by APCON’s approval. The broadcast stations should engage in more professional engagements with politicians, civil society organizations, institutions and agencies involved with elections.
“The NBC should engage in careful and informed monitoring of the process to ensure that the conduct of each broadcaster is in the public interest. The NBC should act decisively against any broadcaster who breaches the Nigeria Broadcasting Code in political broadcast. The NBC should also engage in crisis management to avert the danger that negative broadcast is capable of causing.
“Broadcasters should resolve to build a truly democratic and united nation and disallow politicians from causing divisions. The role of media professionals at this point should promote, stabilize and add credibility to the democratic process by increasing citizen’s confidence, lower tension and legitimize the outcome.
“Broadcasters shall ensure the right of citizens to quality and credible information on candidates and other electoral processes.”