Maldives Broadcasting Commission Broadcom has ordered opposition-oriented Channel 13 TV station to issue a statement apologizing for it’s slip up after a caller on one of its live programs threatened President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih on-air.
In a statement, Broadcom said that in its attempt to conduct an unbiased and objective inquiry into the incident and to ensure the rights of the guilty party as stipulated in the constitution and laws of the country, the commission had requested the party, Ring Private Ltd’s TV Station Channel 13 to respond to the incident.
The statement read that as stipulated under Article 44, section (a) (3) of the Broadcasting Act, the channel should issue a statement apologizing for the incident and should without condition read the statement on-air at the beginning of the ‘Rayyithunge Adu’ Program on two separate days before the 14th of September and air the apology between 08:00 pm and 09:00 pm for two days before the 14th of September.
Broadcom added that it had now conveyed its order to the parent company Ring Private Limited.
The Commission also ordered the TV station to educate its viewers to further prevent the airing of content that goes against the code of practice of live programs and to establish a delay system to censor content. It ordered the station to make these changes before the 20th of this month and to notify the commission once completed.
This comes after the incident had captured the nation’s attention when a caller on Channel 13’s ‘Rayithunge Adu’ program threatened to light the President on fire.
Since then, Channel 13 had issued an apology for the incident and had said the caller expressed his own view and that the station had cut off the call once it realized the threat.
The opposition-oriented station also said that said the station would never incite violence and hatred and would not give anyone else the opportunity to carry such illegal acts in the future.
