- Government unveils Reviewed Broadcast Code
Any broadcasting station that broadcasts news considered to convey hate speech will pay N5,000,000 and not N500,000 fine, Information and Culture Minister Lai Mohammed, said on Tuesday.
The minister spoke in Lagos at the unveiling of the amended Sixth Edition of the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission Code.
He said an erring station would lose its operating licence, after three warnings, while those that rebroadcast foreign news materials that are considered detrimental to national security and interest would be severely penalised.
Other provisions of the new code include amendments in the coverage of emergencies, local content, political broadcasting, advertising and anti-competitive behavior.
The amended code prohibits backlog of advertising debts to broadcasting stations in order to promote sustainability for station owners and producers of content.
On local content, Mohammed said the provision on exclusivity and monopoly would boost local content and local industry with the laws prohibiting exclusive use of rights by broadcasters who tend to create monopolies and hold the entire market to themselves.
“It will encourage open access to premium content. I must explain that this provision is not new to Nigerian broadcasting. Exclusivity was disallowed at a certain time in the history of our broadcasting. Sub-licensing and rights sharing create opportunities for local operators to also gain traction and raise revenue for their services,” he said.
Justifying the amended law on registration of web broadcasting grants, the minister explained that it enabled the country to regulate negative foreign broadcasts that can harm the nation. Such harms, he stressed, could be “in the area of security, protection of minors, protection of the human dignity, economic fraud, privacy, among others”.
On the responsibility of broadcast stations to devote airtime to national emergencies, Mohammed said this mandates terrestrial and pay TV channels to make their services available to Nigerians during national emergencies, such as the current COVID-19 pandemic.
The minister advised those having misgivings about the amendment to the sixth edition of the code to meet the regulator and present their views.
“As I said, there are opportunities for constant review of the code. But please, note that this latest amendment is signed, sealed and delivered. We are committed to making it work for the good of the country,” he added.
NBC’s Acting Director General, Professor Armstrong Idachaba, hailed the Federal Government for ensuring effective functioning of the broadcasting industry.
“A lot of activities and initiatives aimed at repositioning the industry have happened under this administration. These include the reform implementation of the NBC, the digital switchover project as well as the post-COVID-19 intervention for the broadcasting industry and the creative industry in general, among several others,” he said.
Punch
