My first inclination after seeing the headlines was to scream – these people want to behead my brother.
The Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria had released a circular warning that it would no longer condone the breach of its ordinances
They cited very specifically that Presenters should no longer present their opinions as fact amongst others
It was this one that made me get out my gun powder, clean my guns, get ready to take aim and shoot the ‘dummies’ at the BON
Then again, I continued reading and saw very clearly that the BON really have their hands in a mess.
Broadcast standards have truly declined. They have gone to the dogs and what we see now on TV and Radio is pure anarchy
Presenters and guests are turning the whole studio into a free-for-all struggle, with presenters acting like despots and guests threatening to ‘shoot’ them.
The other day a former Governor shouted to a Presenter – you promised you would keep him away from me- he was referring to his co-presenter who has a reputation of being very hard on guests, while a spokesman to a serving Minister once shouted on live TV, you belong to a zoo, u are an animal
Those of us who grew up in the golden era of NTA with their beautiful lineup of News Programs like Newsline and the rest can only cover our faces in shame
Frank Olize, Patrick Oke, Yinka Craig, Augusta Maduegbena, Abike Dabiri and the rest held themselves with dignity and were accorded the huge respect that they all deserved
Today, you cannot even see the vestiges of all of that in most of our presenters
It is not everything we use to play politics and that is why I do not agree with Atiku Abubakar who says that the circular would stifle free speech
Free speech cannot include shouting down a guest, harranguing a guest, or essentially telling the guest to shut up?
That is not free speech that is unprofessional to say the least
Our TV Anchors forget that we did not come to listen to them and as such they should keep their opinions.
However, we came to listen to the guests and the best presenters are the ones who trigger the guests to spill for our education and our enlightenment
Watch the best of global presenters – Amanpour, Oprah and even that one that almost mauled that Illiterate Bwala and u will see how they trigger and nudge you into burying yourself.
Any Presenter who has an opinion should go and be a guest on the show or write a column, but once you are a presenter, your responsibility is to help the audience listen to the guest.
Or better still you can do like Jerry Springer and wait until the end to give your summation after which you put a caveat and say this is your personal opinion and not that of the station
Where BON misses it is in saying, ” , ” Oh, don’t represent your opinion as fact.
That is dicey cos opinions are usually gleaned from research and facts. So the presenter being sure of his facts would hunker down and say – I put it to you and there is nothing you can say or do about that, especially where the guest is openly lying
The presenter should not cry too much for the audience. His job is to throw up the fact through the mouth of the guest and let us the audience judge
The best he can do is for the Producer to scroll the facts at the end of the program so we all can see
The Presenter of today has lost his identity. He sees himself as a small god, a player in National discourse and as such must force his views down our throat
He forgets that what drives politics are vague themes – good, justice, fair play, common good etc
These themes are very ambiguous and subject to different interpretations and as such a TV presenter cannot take sides but must try to maintain a balance for the sake of the common good which in itself also does not lend itself to one finite definition
The guests on the other side can no longer come and trigger a Presenter with falsehood, diatribe, deliberate misrepresentation of facts and outright bad behaviour
We have seen a myriad of guests from hell with some screaming, punching the air, attempting to physically assault co-guests and presenters and issuing threats and generally just being of bad behaviour
It is in this regard and as a result of all the cacophony that the NBC has rightly come out with this circular
The circular has very good intentions what is left to be seen is if they can rise above and be an unaligned and objective regulator, as it is really a mad house out there.
Come and beat me
Duke of Shomolu
Last modified: April 20, 2026
