By Audrey Lotechukwu
FRI, 27 NOV, 2020-theGBJournal- The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed confirmed to stakeholders today, during a meeting with members of the Broadcasting Organisations of Nigerian (BON) in Abuja that the Federal Government will definitely act to ensure a responsible use of social media.
‘’You may call that regulation,’’ he said in apparent reference to uproar that preceded the idea of social media regulation in the country recently. Critics have dismissed the idea as autocratic and a bid to stifle press freedom and free speech.
But Lai Mohammed believes it is not the same as stifling press freedom or free speech, adding that the issue of regulating social media content is generating debate around the world, so Nigeria is not an exception.
‘’ This government has no plan to stifle free speech, neither do we have any intention of shutting down the internet. Social media has come to stay, and those who use it responsibly have nothing to fear,’’ he assured, as he explained the distinction between fake news and disinformation which he says are not the same as free speech.
His speech similar to the one given when he attacked CNN report on #EndSARS protest recently, also delved into the Federal Government’s disdain for ‘’those who weaponize social media.’’
The Minister appealed to broadcast stations to avoid using unverified information from social media, as this is fraught with danger.
‘’Despite the temptation, the stations must adhere strictly to the gate-keeping tradition instead of rushing to use materials that are not authenticated.’’
Lai Mohammed also spoke extensively on the outcome of the CNN report reiterating that the Federal Government has written to CNN asking it to use its own internal mechanism to probe its investigation.
According to Alhaji Mohammed: ‘’We have received an acknowledgement of our letter, saying the letter has been referred to CNN’s Editorial Team. We await the outcome of their probe, but that’s without prejudice to whatever we may decide to do as a government.’’
Lashing out at CNN again, he said the international broadcasting giant ‘’has been grasping at straws in desperation, to justify its inaccurate and unbalanced investigation.’’
‘’But in the process, it is sinking more and more into professional infamy. Yesterday, Nov. 26th that is, in the clearest indication yet of the its confusion over the Lekki Toll Gate incident, CNN tried to clarify its tweet of Oct. 23rd by saying it never attributed the death toll of 38 to Amnesty International and that the tweet also did not make it clear that the death toll was for protests across the country.’’
The Minister said commentators on the tweet tried to redirect CNN to the issue: which is its tweet of Oct. 23rd in which it said ‘’At least 38 people were killed in Nigeria on Tuesday (Oct. 20th) when the military opened fire on peaceful protesters.” This is very unambiguous and CNN is exhibiting panic by seeking to clarify its tweet some 35 days later!
‘’Instead of engaging in such panic, CNN should come clean by admitting that it goofed badly on the Lekki Toll Gate incident.’’
According to the Minister, the big lesson to draw from CNN’s faux pas is that it magnifies the failure or inadequacy of our own broadcast organizations.
‘’In the wake of our spat with CNN, people are asking: Why didn’t our own broadcast stations take the lead in reporting the incident at Lekki? Why didn’t they take the lead in presenting an authentic narrative? Why must we allow the foreign broadcast stations, some of which didn’t even have correspondents on ground, to dictate the pace, thus misleading the world?
These are questions begging for answers and I think for BON, this must form part of their review of the coverage of the whole crisis.’’
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