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NEW EDITION OF THE NATIONAL BROADCASTING CODE ¹

The National Broadcasting Commission has consistently sustained a nationwide campaign and canvassed the opinions of policy makers, scholars, professionals, station owners, and ordinary citizens, young and old alike, on the profile and future of broadcasting in Nigeria. We have held workshops and seminars in different parts of the country.

As a result, there have been changes and additions to the National Broadcasting Code, as well as sundry regulations. The new code, launched during our 1996 International Conference on Deregulation of Broadcasting in Africa, now provides, among other items that:

1.4.6] Only professionals can head professional departments and divisions of broadcasting stations.

2.3.2.4] It is mandatory to forthrightly admit a mistake once clearly established and fully effect remedy as agreed upon with the aggrieved body: The portrayal of nudity and sexual scenes and expressions is justifiable only in contest; however, it shall be presented with tact and discretion.

2.3.7] Womanhood shall be presented with respect and dignity.

2.3.10] Program exclusivity shall be discouraged, but where exclusive rights have been acquired, such programs shall be readily made available to other operators on mutually negotiated terms. The National Broadcasting Commission shall arbitrate when there is a fundamental disagreement in negotiation.

4.3.11] The National Broadcasting Commission shall regulate charges for foreign programs where it is established that owners are charging either differentially or unreasonably compared with what they obtain in other comparable parts of the world, or where one or a number of interested stations are being deliberately denied a right to participate. A similar regulatory process shall be applied in the case of local programmes.

2.3.11] News is universally accepted as sacred. Sponsorship of news detracts from its integrity and predisposes a bias in favor of the sponsor. Therefore, newscasts shall not be sponsored either by the use of commercial backdrops in television newscasts or by other device on either radio or television.

4.4.5] Equal opportunity and air time shall be provided to all political parties or views, with particular regard to amount of time and belt.

5.4.1] Coverage of public events of major national importance shall not be exclusive to any single broadcast organization.

7.2.26] The advertising of fortune-telling or astrology is not permitted.

7.5.5] An advertisement shall not contain copy which is exaggerated by reason of the improper use of words, phrases, or expressions, such as "magic," "magical," "miracle," miraculous," and the like.

7.6.4] An advertisement for an alcoholic beverage or tobacco product shall be aired only during adult listening/viewing periods. For television, advertisements for alcoholic beverages and tobacco products shall not be broadcast before 9:45 p.m.

7.7.1] Advertisements by religious persuasions, including trado-religious practices, shall not contain statements or visual presentations which, directly or indirectly, are likely to mislead the listener/viewer with regard to claims of miracles, hypnotism, palm reading, and the like.

7.7.2] Religious announcements that deceive people into believing that miracles are commonplace events shall not be accepted for broadcasting by any station.

7.8.2] In the interest of fairness and balance and to prevent the monetization of political broadcast, any form of commercialization of political news or coverage is forbidden.

1. Abridged for this manual