NBC Fines Arise TV Over Fake News On Tinubu
Civil society organizations have expressed mixed reactions as the National Broadcasting Commission fined Arise TV for spreading fake reports about the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Ahmed Bola Tinubu.
NBC on Monday fined Arise TV N2m for breaching the broadcasting code.
Reacting to this development, the Executive Director, Transition Monitoring Group, Auwal Rafsanjani, encouraged media houses to verify news before pushing them out.
He, however, noted that sanctioning Arise TV was not fair since the media house had apologized.
Rafsanjani said, “It is important that we try as much as possible to verify the information before it is sent out. However, the idea of trial by all means to sanction to media station over a report that did not emanate from it is not balanced and not also fair, especially when the media had openly come out to openly apologise.
“I think the NBC is just trying to show that it is working but that is not the only way to show that you’re actually working. If the media had denied or refuse to apologise, that is a different thing.
“The apology should have been taken in good faith. We don’t need to monetise or commercialise every aspect of our life.
Arise TV had apologised on Sunday after reporting that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was investigating Tinubu as a result of alleged criminal forfeiture of money on offenses centering on narcotics and illicit drugs.
The sanction, however, came after the APC Presidential Campaign Council had petitioned the NBC on Monday, demanding sanctions against Arise TV and Channels Television for airing the report.
The APC’s demand was made in a petition signed and issued by the special adviser on Media, Communications and Public Affairs of the PCC, Dele Alake, and addressed to the Director-General of the NBC, Balarabe Ilelah.
He said, “The case in question, which did not indict our candidate, has since been overtaken by events after interrogation and correspondences between the then Inspector General of Police, Tafa Balogun, in 2003 and the United States government.
“The US Justice Department in a letter dated February 4, 2003, issued by the Lagos Consulate of the United States Embassy cleared our candidate. The letter was signed by Michael Bonner, the Consulate’s legal attaché.
“The Campaign Council was therefore surprised that certain media houses, such as ARISE News and Channels TV among others, went ahead to transmit and broadcast issues purportedly indicting our candidate in violation of section 3,3 I of the Code which says that ‘The Broadcaster shall ensure that any information given in a programme in whatever form is accurate.
“We believe that the operators of the stations, by their professional standing, should have access to research platforms to verify information before dishing it to the public.”
Alake also accused both stations of using the already cleared document in their interviews of Festus Keyamo and spokesman for the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, respectively.
The petition added that both stations went further to broadcast a fake letter in circulation, purportedly issued by INEC, stating that the electoral body was investigating Tinubu.
