The National Broadcasting Commission, (NBC) on Thursday warned that it will no longer tolerate messages that ‘insult’ Nigerian leaders, including the president, state governments and members of the parliament at different levels.
Accordingly, the commission said it would commence punishment for any broadcast station that violates any of its code, especially those that bother on hate speech.
The South West Zonal Director of the NBC, Chibuike Ogwumike who made the disclosure in Lagos office, said the constant resort to abuse of political leaders was alien to known culture and traditions in the country.
While warning that all broadcast stations should be guided by the ethics and code of the profession, the commission said “the recourse to abusing, denigrating and insulting the President, Governors, MPs and other leaders does not show us as cultured people.”
He cited 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.”
His words: “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.”
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