Irresponsible Broadcasting And Inept Regulation

FRANK TIETIE

Dokpesi and AIT need to wake up to responsible broadcasting. I don’t join misguided populist positions which simply play to the gallery. People who go to equity must go with clean hands.

The NBC over the years has encouraged AIT to be irresponsible as a broadcast outfit. The NBC, over the years cannot be excused of being manned by persons who are incompetent, unpatriotic and compromised. The details are unwritten all over the public space. The NBC must at all times uphold the law on standards of radio and television broadcasting in Nigeria without political considerations.

AIT was the pride of African broadcasting. It is currently a shadow of itself compared to where it ought to have been. SABC learned from AIT when the new South Africa began. You cannot compare both of TV stations today.

It is only lazy TV production that will create the quality of a programme like ‘Kaakaki Social’. There is a whole world of difference between Professional TV production and broadcasting and, the application of the unruly social media space.

A comparison with Aljazeera’s ‘ Stream ‘ or BBC’s ‘ Outside Source ‘ with ‘Kaakaki Social’ would show the difference in responsible use of social media contents in television broadcasting.

I don’t know why we often tolerate sloppy standards for primordial reasons and to make scapegoats of our inept and selfish public servants?

Even though, I wished and still wish to live a very private and quiet life with my love circle of family and friends, I have been forced into advocacy because of the dysfunctional society I found myself. Therefore, I will not fail to appreciate the prominence AIT has given to my advocacy since 2010 until I began to join the clamour that it should honour its labour obligations to its former staff.

I cannot be expected to refuse to take action in the face of oppressive refusal to pay workers’ salary. I must act on behalf of those struggling citizens who often climb three floors to my office to cry about how oppressed they feel about Dokpesi and AIT, concerning their unpaid emoluments and other entitlements. I didn’t care if AIT blacklisted me. After all, I never really cared about being popular. It was never my goal in the first place. My goal is love for the human person because I love myself; I actually only care about God’s approval. Let Him protect and provide for me. If He doesn’t, so be it. He is still God Almighty, the Creator of the heavens and the earth.

Therefore, I owe it a conscientious duty to such an organisation to demand from it that it does what is right and just at all times, especially to persons who committed their entire career life to the organisation as broadcast journalists.

The law is both prescriptive and punitive. AIT should follow the standards while NBC should enforce those standards according to law without kowtowing to political and populist pressure. Let us be a people committed to standards. It is for the ultimate public good and improvement of the society that we strive to live and operate according to set standards.

 

Frank Tietie, Lawyer, Human Rights Defender and Executive Director, CASER, answers in response to interview question by Victorson Agbenson of Radio Nigeria in Abuja.