Nigerian media houses have vowed not to succumb to intimidation from any quarters as they insist that they will not obey the directive of the Federal Government through the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), asking them not to give details of the activities of insurgents, bandits, and kidnappers, in their reports.
This was in reaction to a letter issued by the NBC to radio and television houses in the country, asking them to be cautious in their reporting of issues bothering on insecurity in the country.
The umbrella body for media houses in the country had in a letter titled, ‘Newspaper Reviews And Current Affairs Programmes: A Need For Caution’, which was dated July 7, 2021, directed them to stop “glamorizing the nefarious activities of insurgents”.
This was pointed at the newspaper reviews done by most radio and television stations in the mornings where they give a rundown of newspaper headlines which carry mostly news from the previous day and sometimes invite analysts to come and throw more insight to the stories.
The letter which was signed by the Director, Broadcast Monitoring, Francisca Aiyetan, on behalf of the new Director-General of the Commission, Balarabe Ilelah, read in parts:
“Headlines of most newspapers on a daily basis are replete with security topics. While bringing information on security to the doorsteps of Nigerians is a necessity, there is a need for caution as too many details may have an adverse implication on the efforts of our security officials who are duty-bound to deal with the insurgency.
“The commission, therefore, enjoins broadcasters to collaborate with the government in dealing with the security challenges by;
“Not glamorizing the nefarious activities of insurgents, terrorists, kidnappers, bandits etc.
“Advising guests and/or analysts on programmes not to polarise the citizenry with divisive rhetoric, in driving home their point.
“Not giving details of either the security issues or victims of these security challenges so as not to jeopardise the efforts of the Nigerian soldiers and other security agents.”
In response however, the President of the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE), Mustapha Isah, has given a robust response to the Federal Government, making it clear that media houses in the country will not abide by the directive, adding that they don’t create news, they only report them.
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He noted that the Presidency has always indicated eagerness to gag the Nigerian press with the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, hounding the National Assembly to amend the Nigeria Press Council Act and the National Broadcasting Commission Act.
They advised the Buhari-led administration to focus on fixing the security situation in the country rather than seek ways to suppress free press in the country.
According to Isah:
“The NBC said broadcast stations should not glamorize terrorist activities which I agree with but I have a problem with the issue of ‘don’t report details of attack’. I don’t know what the NBC mean by that. If there is an attack and certain people die, are you saying that I should not report it? If there is an attack and 20 students are kidnapped, are you saying that broadcast platforms should not report the number?
“I have not seen any media house report details of a planned operation by the military on bandits and terrorists. The media does not do that for security purposes and I don’t think we will ever do that.
“The government cannot tell us how to do how report. This is why we are clearly against the Nigeria Press Council Act.
“The media does not create events; we report events. If there is a terrorist attack, we will report it. In fact, if we don’t report it, that means we are not doing our job. We will not stop doing that, we will not stop reporting events despite the threats.”
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