(MRA/IFEX) – On 24 October 2005, Nigeria’s broadcasting regulatory agency, the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), authorized Daar Communications Limited, operators of Africa Independent Television (AIT) and RayPower FM, to reopen the stations, which were shut down the previous day over alleged unprofessional coverage of an airliner crash in which all 117 passengers and crew members […]
(MRA/IFEX) – On 24 October 2005, Nigeria’s broadcasting regulatory agency, the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), authorized Daar Communications Limited, operators of Africa Independent Television (AIT) and RayPower FM, to reopen the stations, which were shut down the previous day over alleged unprofessional coverage of an airliner crash in which all 117 passengers and crew members died.
The NBC announced at about 9:00 p.m. (local time) on 23 October that it was shutting down the operations of Nigeria’s leading privately-owned radio and television stations because after the stations located the site of the crash of Bellview Airlines earlier that day, AIT broadcast close-up shots of decapitated body parts and announced on location that “there could be no survivors,” when the competent authorities had not fully assessed the situation and when the families of the victims had not been informed. The stations subsequently went off the air at about 1:30 a.m. on 24 October.
The NBC’s action was roundly criticized by media freedom and other human rights groups in the country as unjustifiable and contrary to NBC regulations.
In a statement in Abuja on the evening of 24 October, the NBC said the lifting of the closure order came as a result of “the interventions of many well-meaning Nigerians” and “the effect of the closure at this period of National mourning.” It said it was for these reasons that it decided to treat the matter with some measure of magnanimity.
The NBC also waived all other conditions usually attached to the reopening of a suspended station but warned AIT/RayPower that this was with the “understanding that any other such breach will face the full extent of the appropriate sanctions.”
Under the Nigeria Broadcasting Code, the NBC’s guidebook, a station whose licence has been suspended can only reopen after payment of a recommencement fee of 2 million naira (approx. US$15,000).
In its statement, the NBC also warned all stations to be fully aware of their social responsibilities in the broadcast of events of overwhelming national concern.
