By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The federal government has said respected international news platform, CNN, has put itself in a mess for relying on videos from social media to compile its report on the October 2020 #EndSARS protests.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Mr Lai Mohammed, while addressing broadcasters on Friday, stated that the station was now making efforts to get out of the trouble.
Mr Mohammed held a meeting with members of the Broadcasting Organisations of Nigeria (BON) in Abuja today to engage them on the recent happenings in the country.
During his speech, the Minister said what began as a peaceful protest was hijacked by hoodlums, who unleashed terror on law-abiding citizens, destroying their properties and killing people, including six soldiers and 37 policemen.
The Minister wondered why the protesters continued with their actions after the federal government had met their five demands, including the call for the disbandment of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS).
According to him, the federal government was “not only responsive but was also very responsible in its handling of the demands of the EndSARS protesters,” stressing that social media was used to escalate matters through fake news, which he said caused the killings, maiming, arson, looting etc.
“This did not come to us as a surprise,” Mr Mohammed said, noting that this administration had warned of the implication of fake news as far back as 2017.
He said this was why the National Broadcasting Commission (NBS) fined three broadcast stations N9 million for relying on social media materials he described as “unverified and dangerous information.”
The Minister said CNN also relied on these same videos for its reports, which he said have put the platform in serious trouble, saying that it is now “grasping at straws in desperation to justify its inaccurate and unbalanced investigation.”
“The use of unverified videos and the non-adherence to the basic tenets of journalism have combined to land an international broadcaster, CNN, in trouble. This station has been caught in the web of fake news and disinformation after it relied heavily on videos it took from social media for a supposed exclusive investigation on the incident at the Lekki Toll Gate on October 20,” he said.
However, he noted that the federal government awaits the outcome of the investigation it requested after a letter was written to the company “to use its own internal mechanism to probe its investigation.”
“We have received an acknowledgement of our letter, saying the letter has been referred to CNN’s Editorial Team,” he said.
He called on local stations to take up the challenge of reporting issues concerning Nigeria and not wait for foreign stations, noting that the “CNN’s faux pas” has magnified “the failure or inadequacy of our own broadcast organisations.”
