Nigeria: Broadcasting authority allows private broadcasters to reopen

On 24 October 2005, Nigeria's broadcasting regulatory agency, the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), authorized Daar Communications Limited, operators of Africa Independent Television (AIT) and RayPower FM, to reopen the stations, which were shut down the previous day over alleged unprofessional coverage of an airliner crash in which all 117 passengers and crew members died. The NBC announced at about 9:00 p.m. (local time) on 23 October that it was shutting down the operations of Nigeria's leading privately-owned radio and television stations because after the stations located the site of the crash of Bellview Airlines earlier that day, AIT broadcast close-up shots of decapitated body parts and announced on location that "there could be no survivors," when the competent authorities had not fully assessed the situation and when the families of the victims had not been informed.