Lisbon Court bans Portugal’s State-Owned TV station, RTP, from broadcasting bullfight before 10.30 p.m. and without permanently displaying a sign indicating the programme as violent and susceptible of negatively influencing the personality development of children and teenagers

ANIMAL - June 5, 2008

Injunction brought by Portuguese animal protection organisation ANIMAL was ruled valid by the Lisbon court, in an unprecedented court case to restrict the broadcasting of bullfights by RTP in order to prevent the dangerous effects of children and teenagers viewing these as normal and acceptable spectacles and consequently becoming indifferent towards animal suffering
 
The RTP, Portugal’s state-owned TV station, was yesterday notified by a court of Lisbon of the court’s decision of last Friday, 30th May. The RTP, which often broadcasts bullfights in prime time and which, by broadcasting many bullfights (especially with as many as it has been airing in the recent years), is one of the pillars of the bullfighting industry and activity in Portugal, has been ordered by the court to refrain from broadcasting its 44th TV Bullfight (originally programmed to be aired at 5 p.m. on June 8th, next Sunday) before 10.30 p.m. and not after 6 a.m., and without displaying a permanent sign indicating that it is a violent TV programme susceptible of negatively influencing the personality development of children and teenagers. This injunction was based on a general rule established in the Portuguese Law of Television which generally prohibits TV stations from broadcasting programmes which are susceptible of negatively influencing the personality of children and teenagers outside the conditions now directly applicable by the court order to this TV bullfight.
 
In order to prevent RTP from violating the court order, the court sentenced RTP to pay a fine of 15.000,00 euros in case of any infraction, and notified the TV station’s administration that the disobedience to this court order would be a crime punishable with up to 3 years of imprisonment.
 
The court decision was truly remarkable. The facts that the court has admitted as proven form a very powerful case against the exhibition of bullfights by TV stations and against the psychological and social dangers that such programmes bring with them – exactly because of the violence that is inflicted upon the bulls, which is glorified in bullfights as heroic art.
 
After hearing the statements of the five witnesses – among which were two clinical psychologists and a biologist and university professor of ethology (the science which studies animal behaviour) –, the court considered as proven that the viewing of televised bullfights is, at least, susceptible of having a negative influence on children and teenagers and on the development of their personality, sending them a message that to torture an animal, make a spectacle of it and broadcast it on TV (with this being thrown directly into the families´ houses, at any time, exposing children and teenagers to those images) is acceptable and normal. ANIMAL successfully alleged – and the court recognised it as a proof – that the viewing of televised bullfights, especially during the afternoon or the evening, exposes children and teenagers to a desensitization process towards animal suffering (and towards the suffering of any individual, it was pointed out), as the spectacle that they are viewing consists in inflicting suffering in a lawful event, which is presented as artistic, in which the torture of animals is praised as aesthetically pleasant and admirable, morally irrelevant, and appears as so respectable, that the spectacle is even broadcasted on TV and at no restricted time – making it easily accessible to children and teenagers (this bullfight in particular was programmed to be aired at 5 p.m. on a Sunday).
 
The court has also considered proven that, while the Portuguese State, through the school books approved by the Ministry of Education, incorporates in the set of educational messages to teach to children and teenagers the principle that animals and nature should be respected and protected and that animal cruelty should in no way be appreciated, at the same time the State, contradictorily, not only authorizes bullfights but also promotes these bloody spectacles through its television station, broadcasting these brutal shows at any unrestricted time or day, thus sending the opposite message to the children and teenagers that may be viewing TV at the time and that may get shocked, negatively influenced and confused with what they are viewing there as acceptable or even praiseworthy – which goes against what they are learning at school. The court also recognised as proven, in this context, that these contradictory messages generate confusion as to the set of values that the society tries to teach children and teenagers, while condemning, in schools, animal cruelty, and, at the same time, promoting it, through the TV. With the learning process of children and teenagers importantly occurring through imitation, there is a big risk of having children and teenagers wanting to reproduce the violent behaviours glorified in bullfights that are shown to them on TV. The court also acknowledged this danger as proven.
 
Miguel Moutinho, President of ANIMAL, said “presently, this particular bullfight is no longer part of the RTP programmes for this week or next week. We do not know what will RTP decide to do after this but we believe that they should simply and completely terminate the broadcast of any bullfighting programme. This is a spectacle that has been deemed violent and inappropriate for children and teenagers by a court of law. It is an activity which is highly condemnable and which no longer finds social acceptance in Portugal – on the contrary, people mostly feel disgusted with bullfights. They represent the worst of the relationship between humans and other animals. So, RTP should refrain from doing something that will put the station in such a negative context. Anyway, whatever RTP decides to do about this, ANIMAL will proceed with the main court case to try to get the court to apply this decision for all the bullfighting programmes that RTP may decide to air. In the meanwhile, and in spite of this not being legally binding, we believe that RTP – as the other TV stations, actually – should respect the spirit of this court order and the facts on which it is based, and it should at least not broadcast bullfights again outside the 22.30 p.m. – 06.00 a.m. period and without displaying a permanent sign indicating that it is an unsuitable programme for children, teenagers and for everyone who gets shocked with cruelty and violence. At the same time, ANIMAL will continue its ongoing campaign to get the Portuguese Parliament to establish a new animal protection law in the country – in which a national ban on bullfighting should be incorporated”.
 
Today – 5 June, at 7.30 p.m. – ANIMAL will again promote another anti-bullfighting demonstration outside Lisbon’s Campo Pequeno Bullring, where an important bullfight will be taking place.
 
 
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