NBC hits Trust TV with a N5m fine

Image: Online Nigeria

The National Broadcasting Commission has fined Trust Television Network (Trust TV) for airing a documentary titled “Nigeria’s Banditry: The Inside Story” on the 5th of March, 2022.

The management of the embattled media stated our source, The PUNCH, on Wednesday, noting that the fine was communicated to them in a letter signed by the NBC Director General, Balarabe Shehu Illela.

Illela had said that Trust TV was fined because the documentary it aired contravened sections of the National Broadcasting Code.

Trust TV further said, “While we are currently studying the Commission’s action and weighing our options, we wish to state unequivocally that as a television station, we believe we were acting in the public interest by shedding light on the thorny issue of banditry and how it is affecting millions of citizens of our country.

“The documentary traces the root of the communal tensions and systemic inadequacies which led to the armed conflict that is setting the stage for another grand humanitarian crisis in Nigeria. It presents insights into the intersection of injustice, ethnicity, and bad governance as drivers of the conflict. It also aggregates voices of experts and key actors towards finding solutions, including those of the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, and Senator Saidu Mohammed Dansadau, who hails from one the worst-hit communities in Zamfara State.

“Other experts featured in the documentary include scholars like Professor Abubakar Saddique of the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria and Dr. Murtala Ahmed Rufai of the Usmanu Danfodio University, Sokoto, who have both studied the subject of banditry for a long period.

“The documentary also brought to the fore the horrifying stories of victims of banditry.”

Recall that last week, the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, revealed that the FG will sanction Trust TV and BBC for “terrorism glorification” in their documentaries.

Mohammed said the Federal Government is aware of the “unprofessional” documentary by the BBC, Africa Eye, where interviews were granted to bandit warlords and terror gangs, thereby promoting “terror” in the country.

He condemned the BBC for not “upholding the same standards and tenets” as they would have done in the UK.

He said that the BBC is not under NBC regulations because it's foreign however, the firm would still be sactioned.

Several groups and Civil Society Organisations has fired the move by the FG to sanction the media outlets.

Source: punchng.com

#NBC

#Trust TV