AUSTRALIANS AGAINST BSL

HOW THE MEDIA IMPACTS ON BSL

The media creates a hype that misrepresents certain breeds creating huge misunderstandings within the community. The quickly implemented law to ban bully breeds could be somewhat the result of media pressure.

 

The Australian media plays a huge part in the breed discrimination that has grown tremendously over the last couple of decades. Having great influential powers and endless amounts of resources, media outlets across Australia have very quickly joined the knee jerk reaction to label specific breeds of dogs, namely bull breeds, as “dangerous” or “menacing”. They do this by using statistics relating to specific breeds that, with a little further research, can be ruled out as inconclusive; presenting one sided articles that incorrectly label the breeds of dogs involved in incidents; and by using negative images of bull breeds. In any other forum this continuous selective use of data, information and images, could be seen as a form of propaganda.

 

Dog bite statistics are almost always incorrect. Despite these biased reports, the Australian media continue to broadcast such data to the public causing fear and misinformed opinions within our society. In a 2003 review paper into the reduction of dog aggression towards humans or other animals as a result of breed specific legislation by Linda Watson, she said “Breed specific bite statistics are flawed for three main reasons:

 

• identification of a dog breed is primarily based on the appearance of a dog (phenotype not genotype). Even the most experienced individual can make incorrect identifications on pedigree and cross breed dogs.

• when one particular breed of dog is more common within society, it is almost certain that the breed of dog will be subjected to more reported incidences than another. However the percentage of incidents in comparison to numbers of that breed varies minimally if at all.

• statistics that claim Pit Bulls are responsible for some percentage of attacks are combining many separatebreeds together and then comparing that to other dogs that are counted as individual breeds.”

   

The fact is many dogs involved in incidents are initially labelled by the general public, who have very little knowledge of dog breeds, if any at all. The media takes these reports as facts and relay them the wider community through the various media outlets.

 

According to an article by Dogslife magazine (2008) Veteranarian Dr Kirsti Seksel said “American Veterinary Medical Association Task Force on Canine Aggression and Human-Canine Interaction declared dog bite statistics do not give an accurate picture for a variety of reasons associated with the data actually collected, such as misidentification by the victim and the media upon reporting.”

 

We often hear headlines such as “Pit Bull mauls child” or “maimed for life after Pit Bulls attacked” when dog breed has not been formally established. The majority of these cases end up to be mixed breed or cross breed dogs, but by the time breed is determined the damage from initial reports, has been done. In some cases it has directly resulted in the introduction of breed specific legislation being implemented.

 

Linda Watson, who is president of the Endangered Dog Breed Association, also reported that “The 1995 death of an elderly woman in Toowoomba was widely reported as an attack by an American Pit Bull Terrier. The dog involved was in fact a cross breed of unknown origins (Collicutt, 1996) and had been registered as a Labrador cross (Shultz, 2003). The result was that several Queensland Councils introduced restrictions or total bans on American Pit Bull Terriers.”

 

The hype caused by the media reflects on certain breeds unfairly and is a clear misrepresentation of those breeds. This then creates huge misconceptions within the Australian community, which in turn leads back to members of the public incorrectly labelling dog breeds. Therefor the incorrect labelling of dog breeds in bite incidents and attacks, can be considered to be all means a reflection of media pressure. Linda Watson further concluded “when the media is reporting on dog attacks they aren't telling the truth. Over time it has become evident that one can not entirely trust the media. The media sensationalise dog attacks and at the moment seem only to publicise those involving Pit Bull type dogs or dogs they can convert into Pit Bulls.”

 

Australian organisations and owners of dogs agree with the notion that the media plays a big role in influencing judgements about specific breeds. Behaviour experts, welfare organisations and breed advocates push for the public to educate themselves and one another better on the reason behind dog attacks and dog behaviour, rather than focus on the breed of the dog involved.

 

In a report, Dr Seksel argued that "breed alone isn't a good indicator of aggression towards humans", she went on further to say that there is no clear evidence 'to justify discriminating against particular breeds within legislation’.” Similarly the images selected to represent the dogs involved in dog bite or attacks, are often of bull breeds regardless of the breed involved. Often they depict a dog with its teeth bared, a spike collar, in a defensive stance.

 

On occasion we also see articles in the media relating to breed specific legislation, with an equally confronting image. These negative images have a job to do, which is to draw the attention of the reader in. As a result, these images impact on the general public’s perception on certain dog breeds, by creating a false impression that bull breeds are more dangerous than other breeds.

 

Dr Seksel said, "Media plays a big role in creating a misconception about breeds in Australia.”

The media’s influence is so strong that it can also change the popularity of specific breeds. Years ago Rottweilers, German Shepherds and Dobermans made headlines all around the world, but unfortunately in recent years the media’s new target quite obviously has become our bull breeds.

 

Pressure should there for be placed on large media corporations to stop the blatant propaganda towards our bull breeds. There needs to be accountability for their role in the persecution against our much loved family members, by dog owners uniting together and using their voice to speak out against the use of biased and unsubstantiated data, the naming of undetermined breeds involved in dog bite or attacks and negative images of bull breeds. The image of bull breeds has been damaged for long enough, now is the time for us to start rebuilding that was unfairly taken away from our dogs, without due cause, and has resulted in a murderous campaign against innocent dogs around our country.