Just in: Unveiled 6th edition of Broadcasting Code tightens lose ends on hate speech, others
Days of publishing, airing or broadcasting materials that tend to suggest hate or dangerous speech in any ramification from today in Nigeria are numbered.
This is based on the fact that the latest National Broadcasting Code, the sixth edition, launched on Thursday in Kano by the Director General of the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), Mr Is’haq Modibbo Kawu, has effectively taken care of related breaches by any media house going forward.
In his welcome address, the DG explained that “The 6th Edition of the Nigeria Broadcasting Code has been enriched at three levels”.
“Our Commission had commissioned a major study of HATE AND DANGEROUS SPEECH in Nigeria, against the background of the widespread abuse of the broadcasting standards, in the lead to the 2015 General Elections. Even then NBC, as the broadcasting regulatory institution, became sucked into the vortex of the controversies of that era in our national history.
“We therefore felt that we needed to strengthen the position of the Code, in respect of HATE AND DANGEROUS SPEECH.
“Similarly, new controversies emerged around the nature of LOCAL CONTENT, and the definition of what was acceptable as LOCAL CONTENT. It was clear, that the Nigeria Broadcasting Code needed to become strongly affirmative of the national aspiration to create and defend jobs in the creative industries WITHIN the Nigerian economy.
And that patriotic, affirmative aspiration has been reflected in the letters of the 6th Nigeria Broadcasting Code.
According to the DG, “A final point of interest is related to the previous one, and that is in the manner that the 6th Nigeria Broadcasting Code has also reflected the conviction that our sports in general ought to get the advertising funding support that matches a reasonable percentage of the huge amount of advertising spend that supports foreign sporting activities.
Kawu made it clear before industry stakeholder while unveiling the Code that “This is the document that will guide our work over the next couple of years”.
“The Nigeria Broadcasting Code is not an imposition by the regulator on the licensees. This is a document that the industry worked on collectively and it is a product of very exacting professional application.
“I implore our colleagues to work the straight and narrow path of professionalism which the Code prescribes. That is the only way that we can have a Nigeria broadcasting industry which would reflect the very best of our dear country,” the NBC boss averred.
