The National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) has slammed a N2 million fine on Arise News and TVC for alleged breach of national broadcasting codes.
The NBC Director General, Balarabe Shehu Ilelah, made this known in separate letters to the management of the affected organisations on Friday.
NBC said the fines should be paid within two weeks of the receipt of the letters or the sanction would be graduated.
In its letter to TVC, the commission accused the television station of breaching 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).
It accused TVC News of allowing derogatory and unfair comments to be broadcast on its station.
Ilelah said the worrisome trend had become a house style on TVC.
The letter added that the 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.
It also accused TVC News of not giving equal news coverage to other political parties in all their news.
In the letter to Arise News, the NBC said there were infractions in 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 commission cited 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.
It slammed Arise Global Media for giving prominence to unfair contents, which are glamorised on Arise news programme, “What is Trending”.
