Are Certain Animal Welfare Issues Misreported or Excluded in the Media - Article Example

Name: Date: Course: Professor: Introduction In Australia, Asia, Far East and many other countries all over the world, animals especially livestock undergo serious suffering due to overloading, malnutrition, ill-treatment, to mention but a few. Slaughter animals are handled roughly and watch their colleagues get killed. Due to miseries that animals may face, various animal welfare organizations have been established to protect them. Governments have implemented laws and established Animal Welfare Boards in attempt to protect and conserve animal species. However, various researchers have argued that the efforts of Animal Welfare Organizations are limited without the help of the media. Media plays a very important role in increasing public awareness on the various animal welfare issues. It is through the media that the public gets a chance to fully understand the various issues that face animals and adopt lifestyles that are animal friendly. However, many studies in this field show that some animal welfare issues are misreported or even completely excluded in the media. This paper therefore gives a detailed analysis of how some of the animal welfare issues that are misreported or excluded in the media. Roex and Miele (2005, p.23) defines an animal welfare issue as a public disagreement over the handling of animals in a particular situation. In many instances, the dispute lingers around whether the treatment that an animal receives is reasonable or humane. Some examples of animal welfare issues in Australia that have appeared in media headlines in the last decade include: export of live sheep for meat consumption; sheltering layer hens in battery cages; mulesing sheep; keeping elephants in zoos, tail docking of dogs; ‘pest’ animals killing through the use of 1080; compulsory desexing of cats and dogs; keeping exotic animals in circuses, detaining sows installs confine and duck shooting. The main objective of media in covering Animal Welfare Issues is to raise public awareness and knowledge about animal Welfare issues (Hallahan, 2001.p28). How Animal Welfare Issues are raised and responded to in the media is a central theme in public relations. According to Evans and Miele, most animal welfar4e issues reported get their way into the media when they become rampant and get labeled by many people in the society (2008, p.13). Many of the already mentioned animal welfare issues become public issues through media coverage are debate upon by the population at large and through this become an area of interest to the government. The media make it possible to animal welfare issues to become more visible through the airing of opposing views, and efforts are made to influence people’s attitudes towards animals. Miele, Veissier, and Evans (2010, p.8) argue that animal welfare issues are dynamic and vary in the amount of attention they receive from the media. Some of these issues fade way with time and may become completely excluded from media coverage. On the other hand, animal welfare issues which get covered by the media play little if any significant protection to animal interests. For instance, many of the animal welfare issues which have been highlighted lately centre on meat consumption. According to Miele and Evans (2010, p.8), animal welfare issues coverage has influenced people’s rate of meat consumption. However, this has created another issue. It is argued that the media has manly concentrated on meat consumption and overlooked other important animal welfare issues such as animal abuse, which has become so rampant especially in developing nations. In Australia, many newspaper companies have been covering campaigns by Animal Welfare groups which aim to educate the public on alternatives to gestation crate for pigs. The media has highlighted how these alternatives are animal friendly, cheap and environmental friendly. However, it is clear that this is a form of misreporting or deception. The Animal Welfare groups are using the media to deceive the public on the concern and efforts towards ensuring animal welfare. According to Ingenbleek and Immink (2010), on closer examination of many campaigns on animal welfare covered by the media, the measures taken are costly and are characterized by various loopholes that allow corrupt officials to deceive the public and continue committing their evils. The media only captures animal welfare issues that receive public attention through animal welfare campaigns which are most organized by animal welfare officials. These issues that arise through such campaigns are distorted and do not reflect the actual situation in the ground. Some of the animal welfare issues that are covered by the media are misreported in order to make the public see how concerned the media is in regard to animal welfare but in fact makes no impacts on the animals. Agriculture has been an expanding business for many Australians and many other people all the world. Media has played a big role in enlightening the public on the use of animals in Agriculture such as in cultivation, carrying of produce. Through this, many people are exploiting animals for their cheap labor in making an income from Agriculture. According to Mellor & Stafford (2001, p.763), the media is acting as a channel which is promoting continued animal exploitation instead of reporting on issues which assist in promoting their welfare. Evans & Miele (2007, p.9) point out that due to exclusion of some animals welfare issues by the media, meat consumption is on the rise in many parts of Australia and many other places all over the world. The media mainly reports on how people are avoiding consuming meat because animals are being treated more humanely. As a result, many people, who previously avoided consuming meat, have adopted their old trends of consuming meat. This is because as the media reports on how animals are being treated more humanely, it fails to explain to the public other ethical reasons as to why animals are being treated more humanely. It is crucial for the media to include and explicitly explain to the public ethical reasons as to why meat consumption is not animal friendly. It is also equally important for the media to educate the public on health benefits derived from reducing meat intake and substituting animal protein with proteins got from fresh vegetables and cereals. Through this, the media will not only educate the family on animal friendly consumer decisions but will also promote animal welfare. Ironically, coverage of animal welfare issues by the media may actually promote animal suffering due to misreporting and exclusion of important information. Butcher (2002, p.17) explain that most are the times that the media reports on stray dogs which might be dangerous to the public. Most of the time, the media end up reporting on the wrong kind of species of dog and for this reason, the species may face some kind of confinement causing it unnecessary suffering. The media fail to pay keen attention to the particular type of dog species which has wandered off because it does not recognize the implications the misreporting might have on the particular dog welfare. In such reporting, the media fail to report on important details such as the detailed description of the animal which might help people stay away from it. Instead, the misreporting raises anxiety among people and his negatively affects people’s perceptions of animal welfare (Southwell, Bessey & Barker, 2006, p.53). In order to promote animal welfare, animal welfare groups should play an import6ant role in ensuring that the information reported in the media about various animal welfare issues are correct and not misleading. The media should also make it a priority to promote animal welfare through collecting and disseminating correct information the same way it does on political and other social issues affecting the larger society. Hallahan (2001, p.30) argue that media reporting on animal welfare issues has no significance since it does nothing to eliminate the property status of animals. All over the world, animals are perceived my many people who won them as part of their property. As such, they are given value just like any other property such as land, buildings among others. Many of the stories that the media report on animal welfare, are directly linked to the worth of animals as a form of property. Camels are widely covered by the media in stories concerning the number of litres of milk they can produce in a day and the worth of that milk. Media does not fail to highlight the value of chicken raring due to the eggs they can produce per day and their tender white meat which has a high demand in the markets. Such reporting makes people continue perceiving animal as property which should be exploited to maximize profit. This implies that media in a way promotes exploitation of animals in providing economic benefits for humans. Along with stories on the worth of various animals, media fail to report on the importance of taking good care of these animals so as to ensure the economic benefits derived from them are sustainable. This explains the reason as to why some animal species are becoming threatened while other have already seized to exits due to overexploitation. The media does not always misreport animal welfare issues die to lack of attention. According to Miele and Evans (2010, p.12), many are the times that the media treat animal cruelty and animal welfare issues as one topic. As a result people reading such media reports cannot differentiate between the two concepts. Government action on promoting animal welfare is mainly activated by stories that get their way into media headlines. This means that the regulations that are put in place by governments are designed in such a way that they can address animal cruelty and at the same time improve animal welfare. According to Mellor & Stafford (2001, p.765), it is important that the media separates animal cruelty and animal welfare reports in order to influence the implementation of effective regulatory initiatives. One of the latest stories on animal welfare promotion that the media has reported on is a comparison on two methods ok killing poultry for meat consumption. The media highlighted an analysis carried out by an animal welfare organization on controlled atmosphere killing with electric immobilization. The media clearly explained to the public the economic benefits of controlled atmosphere killing over electric immobilization. According to the analysis highlighted by the media, electric immobilization of poultry in short referred to CAK has several economic disadvantages such as contamination to human health caused by broken birds’ bones. The media also explained that electric stunning is disadvantageous since it increases labor costs. In this particular reporting, the media excluded important welfare issues such as ethical problems arising from both types of poultry killing. It is therefore clear that the top priority of media in covering animal welfare issues is on their economic benefits to humans. As such, exclusion of various important ethical issues in relation to animal leads to an increase in animal cruelty instead of promoting animal welfare. According to Rashida (2012, par1), despite that fat the media has been blamed in the pats for having misreported or even overlooked some important various animal welfare issues , in the last one year, various critical issues have been addressed by the media in Australia. Rashida points out that Australia has become an epicenter of animal welfare activities mainly due to the role that the media has played in making some of theses critical issues its headlines. It is evident through various animal welfare reforms, regulations and policy alterations that the media has positively impacted on animal welfare in the country. The growing cultural acceptance of vegetarian lifestyle among Australians can mainly be attributed to media reporting. According o Rashida, The first major media reporting that has had a significant impact in animal welfare policy alteration in Australia is a video showing Australian cattle mistreatment in Indonesia (2012, par.2). This video was aired last year, in one of the nation’s premier news program by the name Four Corners. Indonesia has been one of the primary markets for Australia’s live-cattle trade. The media aired a detailed video which was captured by an undercover investigator, showing the various mistreatments such as beating, mutilation, and abuse prior to slaughter that the Australian cattle undergo in Indonesia. Rashida argues that the accurate and detailed reporting of such animal welfare issues by the media led to various welfare advancements in the following months. In response to this footage, over 60, 000 media stories on animal welfare circulated in the air. The extensive media coverage on animal welfare issues gave the Australian Animal Welfare organizations a powerful platform to spread their animal welfare messages. The accurate reporting and inclusion of detailed information on animal abuse forced the Australian government to swiftly take action in stopping the animal suffering and instead promote animal welfare. After a week following the airing of Four Corners, the Australia government put a bun on live cattle exportation to Indonesian markets. The suspension gave the Australian government officials the opportunity to fix animal welfare regulations for the live-cattle export industry, implement new, more humane slaughterhouse standards, which can enhance animal welfare. Following this footage, the media reported another major animal welfare issue, relation to cattle mishandling in Indonesia. The new footage resulted to what the Royal Society for the prevention of mistreatment to animals identified as over 45 breaches to the new animal welfare regulations which had been implemented. Rashida points out t6hat it is through the media that treatment of cattle in Indonesian slaughterhouses has tremendously improved. The media is still widely covering on various welfare issues in regard to cattle handling that has forced Animal welfare organizations in the country to keep a closer look in the live-cattle export industry. At present, various Animal Welfare organizations are urging the federal government to put to an end live-cattle export as a way of ending animal cruelty. The media has not only played a role in highlighted animal cruelty in international markets but has also widely reported on cruelty that animal face in Australian internal markets. After the Four Corners video, the media immediately aired another detailed footage on various disturbing instances of animal cruelty in a slaughterhouse located in South Wales state of Australia. The media gave the video on animal welfare issues a top priority and was aired on top news program by the name Lateline September 2011(Rashida, 2012, par.5). The footage was detailed and included minor issues that animal welfare issues neglect in their analysis. The video revealed more than 100 breaches of the Australia‘s laws enacted to eradicate animal cruelty. Following the airing of this detailed movie by the media on animal welfare issues and animal cruelty, the Australian government has taken stern actions to ensure all slaughterhouses within the country adhere to the animal cruelty laws and regulations. It is also through such airing that the media has exposed critical issues that the public need to know about animal welfare and hence raise their awareness on the various challenges that their animals face. The two footages are some o the latest media reports that have influenced people’s perceptions of animal welfare and have also forced the government to take initiatives in eradicating animal cruelty and at the same time promote animal welfare. A research report by Southwell, Bessey & Barker B (2006, p.55) indicated that the media plays a major role in influencing people’s attitudes toward animal welfare. According to the three researchers, despite the fact that the media sometime does not give animal welfare issues a priority, it sometimes has a significant impact on people’s understanding of animal issues when they cover some stories concerning animal handling. Animal welfare issues are attracting a lot of interests from the public and due to this, many media houses have put a lot of efforts to come up with footages that cover on these issues. Some media house have even gone ahead to employ professionals who are experts animal in order to ensure that their reports are accurate in an attempt to improve their organizational performance. However, due to increased competition among the many media houses in Australia, every media house is coming up with reports on animal welfare issues in an attempt to attract and retain customers. This explains the reason as to why there has been some misreporting and exclusion of important details when some media houses just publish stories on animal welfare issues with an aim of maximizing profit without thinking about the consequence their distorted reports can have on animal welfare and people’s attitudes towards animal welfare. Conclusion From the paper, it is quite clear that some certain animal welfare issues are misreported or excluded in the media. Misreporting mainly occurs because the media does not know the implications that the distorted reports might have on animal welfare and people’s attitudes towards animal welfare. On the other hand, the media might exclude important animal issues in their headlines because they do not give them a priority as they perceive the issues less important compared to other issues such as politics, economics and other social issues. However, it is quite clear from the analysis that animal welfare issues are equally important and the media should play a big role in shaping people attitudes towards animal welfare in order to end animal cruelty by airing accurate and detailed animal welfare reports. Recommendations The fact that the media play an important role in influencing people’s perceptions on animal welfare, it should dedicate itself in ensuring that it publishes accurate repots on animal welfare issues in order to promote animal welfare. Animal welfare organizations should also put extra effort in bringing to light important animal welfare issues in order to capture the attention of the media, which will create awareness on the public concerning the need to observe animal welfare. The media houses should also invest wisely by employing people who are experts in animal welfare issues in order to produce footages that are accurate detailed and educate people on the need to end animal cruelty. While airing news on the economic benefits of animal, media house should not exclude ethical and economical reasons as to why animals should not be overexploited for economical gains. Bibliography Butcher R. (2002). – Stray dog control programmes: an international perspective. In Proc. International Seminar on animal welfare, organised by Commonwealth Veterinary Association and World Society for the Protection of Animals,15-16 February, Bangalore, India. Commonwealth Veterinary Association, Bangalore, 13-17. Evans, A., and M. Miele (2008) Comparative Focus Group Report. Welfare Quality Report Series No.5, Cardiff: Cardiff University Press. Evans, A., and M. Miele. 2007. Consumers' Views about Farm Animal Welfare. Part I: National Reports based on Focus Group Research. Welfare Quality Report Series No.4. Cardiff: Cardiff University. Hallahan K (2001). The dynamics of issues activation and response: an issues processes model. Journal of Public Relations Research 13(1):27-59. Ingenbleek, P.T.M. and Immink, V,M.(accepted, forthcoming 2010) Consumer decision making for animal-friendly products: synthesis and implications for policy and research, Animal Welfare. Mellor DJ & Stafford KJ (2001). Integrating practical, regulatory and ethical strategies for enhancing farm animal welfare. Australian Veterinary Journal 79(11): 762-768. Miele, M., and A.B. Evans (2010) When food become animals: Ruminations on ethics and responsibility in care-full practices of consumption Ethics, Place and Environment, Vol.13 n. 2, pp 1-20. Miele, M., Veissier, I. and Evans, A.B. (accepted, forthcoming 2010) ' Animal Welfare: establishing a dialogue between science and society' Animal Welfare. Rashida H. (2012). 3 Hot Button Animal-Welfare Issues in Australia. Retrieved from: http://vegnews.com/articles/page.do?pageId=4650&catId=1 8th June 2013. Roex, J., and M. Miele (2005) Farm Animal Welfare Concerns. Consumers, Retailers and Producers. Welfare Quality Reports No.1. Cardiff: Cardiff University. Southwell A, Bessey A, Barker B (2006). Attitudes towards animal welfare: A research report. Prepared for: the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry. TNS Social Research, Canberra 53pp. Read More

In Australia, many newspaper companies have been covering campaigns by Animal Welfare groups which aim to educate the public on alternatives to gestation crate for pigs. The media has highlighted how these alternatives are animal friendly, cheap and environmental friendly. However, it is clear that this is a form of misreporting or deception. The Animal Welfare groups are using the media to deceive the public on the concern and efforts towards ensuring animal welfare. According to Ingenbleek and Immink (2010), on closer examination of many campaigns on animal welfare covered by the media, the measures taken are costly and are characterized by various loopholes that allow corrupt officials to deceive the public and continue committing their evils.

The media only captures animal welfare issues that receive public attention through animal welfare campaigns which are most organized by animal welfare officials. These issues that arise through such campaigns are distorted and do not reflect the actual situation in the ground. Some of the animal welfare issues that are covered by the media are misreported in order to make the public see how concerned the media is in regard to animal welfare but in fact makes no impacts on the animals. Agriculture has been an expanding business for many Australians and many other people all the world.

Media has played a big role in enlightening the public on the use of animals in Agriculture such as in cultivation, carrying of produce. Through this, many people are exploiting animals for their cheap labor in making an income from Agriculture. According to Mellor & Stafford (2001, p.763), the media is acting as a channel which is promoting continued animal exploitation instead of reporting on issues which assist in promoting their welfare. Evans & Miele (2007, p.9) point out that due to exclusion of some animals welfare issues by the media, meat consumption is on the rise in many parts of Australia and many other places all over the world.

The media mainly reports on how people are avoiding consuming meat because animals are being treated more humanely. As a result, many people, who previously avoided consuming meat, have adopted their old trends of consuming meat. This is because as the media reports on how animals are being treated more humanely, it fails to explain to the public other ethical reasons as to why animals are being treated more humanely. It is crucial for the media to include and explicitly explain to the public ethical reasons as to why meat consumption is not animal friendly.

It is also equally important for the media to educate the public on health benefits derived from reducing meat intake and substituting animal protein with proteins got from fresh vegetables and cereals. Through this, the media will not only educate the family on animal friendly consumer decisions but will also promote animal welfare. Ironically, coverage of animal welfare issues by the media may actually promote animal suffering due to misreporting and exclusion of important information. Butcher (2002, p.17) explain that most are the times that the media reports on stray dogs which might be dangerous to the public.

Most of the time, the media end up reporting on the wrong kind of species of dog and for this reason, the species may face some kind of confinement causing it unnecessary suffering. The media fail to pay keen attention to the particular type of dog species which has wandered off because it does not recognize the implications the misreporting might have on the particular dog welfare. In such reporting, the media fail to report on important details such as the detailed description of the animal which might help people stay away from it.

Instead, the misreporting raises anxiety among people and his negatively affects people’s perceptions of animal welfare (Southwell, Bessey & Barker, 2006, p.53). In order to promote animal welfare, animal welfare groups should play an import6ant role in ensuring that the information reported in the media about various animal welfare issues are correct and not misleading.

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