NBC sanctions 716 broadcast stations in 2 months

The National Broadcasting Commission, NBC, says it has sanctioned 716 infractions broadcast stations over infractions of the Nigeria Broadcasting Code between April and June.

This was contained in a report signed by the NBC management, showing the breach profile of the broadcast stations for the second quarter of 2020.

The report indicated that out of the 716 infractions sanctioned, only 22 (3%) were financial penalty.

The remaining 694 (97%) were either cautions or warnings for obscenity, political, hate speech, unverifiable claims, unprofessionalism, advertisements and technical breaches.

According to the report, advertisement breaches were the dominant infractions for the quarter, accounting for 51% of all sanctions, followed by unverifiable claims to cure by tradomedics and preachers with 17%.

It added that unprofessionalism, especially in the handling of news and current affairs programming was the third dominant breach, accounting for 12% of all infractions recorded.

Another 22 penalties, the report said, were imposed on 19 stations across the country during the quarter ranging from the sum of N250,000.00 – N300,000.00 each.

Seven of these, the report said, were for misinformation or false health advisory about Corona-virus, COVID-19.

Other stations penalized in this respect were Breeze FM, Lafia, Adaba FM Akure, Midland FM Ilorin, Royal FM Ilorin and Wave FM Port Harcourt.

The report said another ten stations were penalized for tradomedics’ claim to cure serious diseases or promotion of fortune telling.

The stations: Sobi FM, Ilorin; EBS Radio, Benin; City FM Onitsha; FRCN (Voice FM) Nsukka; King FM, Ibadan; Fad FM, Calabar; Wazobia Max TV, Port Harcourt and Radio Rivers, Port Harcourt.

Penalized for endorsement of products or services by presenters were Wish FM Port Harcourt, Wazobia FM, Port Harcourt and People’s FM, Yenagoa.

Crowther (Love) FM Abuja was also penalized for the broadcast of indecent music while Blaze FM Oraifite and Wish FM Port Harcourt were penalized for poor handling of phone-in programmes and promotion of Ponzi scheme respectively, the report said.

The report is compiled quarterly by the Directorate of Broadcast Monitoring from weekly reports filed by the 10 zonal and 25 state offices of the Commission that monitor over 600 functional broadcast stations in Nigeria.