Digital surge: NBC urges broadcasters on truthful, inclusive information
Digital surge: NBC urges broadcasters on truthful, inclusive information
The National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) has charged broadcasters to ensure truthful, balanced and inclusive information reporting.
The Director-General of NBC, Mr Charles Ebuebu, gave the charge on Tuesday in Ikeja at the 14th edition of the Conference of African Broadcasters (Africast 2025).
Ebuebu said that, as the broadcast sector embraced the digital surge, broadcasters must protect the values that defined the people — cultural identity and diversity.
He said that broadcasters must protect the rights of citizens to truthful, balanced and inclusive information.
According to him, the broadcast space must reflect humanity, even as it mirrors technology.
“This year’s theme – “Navigating the Digital Surge: Building a Resilient African Media Ecosystem for the Future” – is not a slogan. It is both a challenge and a call to action.
“It speaks to the rapid transformations reshaping the media landscape — Artificial Intelligence, immersive content, satellite integration, green media operations, audience data, and cybersecurity — and demands that Africa charts its own course through them.
“Broadcasting in Africa is no longer confined to the transmitter and receiver. It now lives in the cloud, the app store, the algorithm, and the audience’s hand.
“What this means is that regulation itself must evolve — from policing to enabling, from control to collaboration, and from analogue thinking to digital leadership.
“At the National Broadcasting Commission, we see Africast not just as a conference, but as a strategic forum for recalibration.
“We are bridging the silos between technology and storytelling, between policy and practice, between creative ambition and commercial sustainability,” he said.
The director-general said that the commission was advancing key initiatives beyond the conference by ensuring a Policy Direction on Online Audiovisual Platforms of Significant Reach to safeguard digital broadcasting spaces.
He said that the commission was advancing the expansion of the Digital Switch Over infrastructure through sustainable satellite partnerships.
According to him, NBC is also ensuring the development of a national audience measurement framework rooted in transparency and local data ownership.
He added that the commission was advancing a renewed emphasis on media literacy, ethics and Artificial Intelligence verification systems to counter disinformation and deepfakes.
“We will continue to issue guidance where the law is clear, and we will work with the legislature and the ministry where the law needs to evolve for a digital age.
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“No single agency can ‘solve’ the information ecosystem. We will keep convening the right mix – regulators, platforms, broadcasters, civil society, academia – until solutions outlast news cycles.
“We will measure what we do, publish what we can, and invite honest scrutiny from the press and the public. A resilient ecosystem is not built by declarations; it is built by habits,” he said.
The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mr Mohammed Malagi, said that the theme of the Africast spoke to the urgency and opportunity before the broadcast industry.
Malagi was represented by the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Mr Chinasa Ogbodo.
He said that as digital transformation accelerated across the continent, media systems should not only be innovative but also resilient, inclusive and sovereign.
He said that President Bola Tinubu’s administration was committed to enabling an agile, forward-looking regulatory environment that would deeply align with the aspirations of the people.
“We will continue to support innovation, protect content sovereignty, and empower the next generation of African media professionals,” he said.
