Arise News and TVC have each been fined N two million by the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) for allegedly breaking national broadcasting laws.

This information was disclosed in a letter written to both media outlets on February 3, 2023 by NBC Director General Balarabe Ilelah.

Both organizations are required to pay their fines within two weeks of receiving the letters, according to the NBC boss, or the penalty will be raised.

The commission claimed that both media outfits breached the following sections of the Code: 1.10.4; 3.1.2; 3.1.2; 3.3.1(e); 4.2.2 (g); 4.2.2 (g); 4.3.1(e); 5.3.3 (c); 5.3.3 (e); 5.3.3 (f); and 5.5.1 (b).

The agency also alleged that TV News was allowing unfair and unbalanced comments to be broadcast on its station, adding that the trend has become something to worry about as it has become their style.

The NBC observed that the alleged unprofessional broadcasts by TVC include the Joint media directorate of the APC Presidential Campaign Council press briefing where Festus Keyamo said “Obasanjo and Atiku run a criminal enterprise, an empire of fraud in Abuja…” and alleged that some goons of Atiku Abubakar were planning to eliminate Michael Achimugu, a whistleblower.

TVC News was also faulted for not giving equal news coverage to other political parties in all their news.

The letter sent to Arise News, NBC claimed that the platform violated the following sections of the code: 1.10.4; 3.1.2; 3.3.1(e); 5.3.3 (e); 5.3.3 (f); 5.5.1 (b); 5.5.1 (d); and 5.5.6.

The broadcast of the presidential campaign rally of the PDP in Delta, the interview with former APC Campaign Director, Na’jaatu Muhammed, and the broadcast of the PDP presidential campaign rally in Sokoto was cited as examples.

The commission also rebuked Arise Global Media for allegedly giving prominence to unfair content which is shown on Arise News programme “What is Trending”.

Credits: THISWEEKNG