The International Press Centre has expressed disappointment over a N5 million fine slammed on Trust Television Network by the National Broadcasting Commission.
The NBC had fined Trust TV N5m for carrying a documentary titled, ‘Nigeria’s Banditry: The Inside Story.’
The IPC, in a statement on Wednesday by its Press Freedom Officer, Melody Lawal, described the imposition as an “arbitrary fine.”
NBC fines Trust TV N5m for exposing bandits
We are weighing our options, Trust TV reacts to NBC fine
She told the Federal Government, the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, and the NBC that the banditry ravaging Nigeria and putting the lives and property of the citizens in jeopardy was not a creation of the media.
The IPC called on the Broadcasting Organisations of Nigeria, the Nigerian Guild of Editors, the Nigeria Union of Journalists and other professional bodies championing freedom of the press and freedom of expression in the country to “rise in unison in condemnation of this new development and hostility by the government.”
The statement quoted the Executive Director of the IPC, Lanre Arogundade, as describing the fine as an act of injustice and an assault on press freedom.
He said, “In the circumstance, the IPC considers the fine imposed on Trust TV an act of injustice, an assault on media freedom and a violation of the right of the people to know the truth about the dynamics of banditry in the country and the decision should therefore be reversed.”
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