Belgrade, 27 October 2011
By involving all the most important electronic media in Serbia in a campaign against dogs, in prime time chief informative programs, by continuous broadcasting of videotaped incidents with dogs, including even the act of catching dogs by dogcatchers in Šumice and Dedinje in the period between 11 and 15 October 2011, a dangerous precedent with far-reaching consequences was created in this country.
By broadcasting the act of catching the dogs, electronic media like TV Pink, RTS 1, Studio B TV, B92 TV, TV Avala, and Prva TV have flagrantly and on a continuous basis been violating the Law on Broadcasting, Article 68, points 5 and 6, which they must not have done. To such behavior of theirs, however, nobody has reacted, including the RRA (Republic Broadcasting Agency) although the fine envisaged for such a breach according to the provision of Article 113, point 2, ranges from 300.000 to 1.000.000 dinars. Another breach was committed because the viewers had not been warned about the content that followed which was disturbing for all emotionally sensitive persons. Everything that is shocking for even a little bit civilized world, has become a "normal" system of values in Serbia and is moreover presented in the prime time chief informative programs without any prior warning when dogs are concerned?!
We are really wondering how is all that possible and for how long will it be like that? Oh, yes, we have forgotten the fact that when dogs are at stake everything is allowed to everybody! Is it normal that a non-profit organization of volunteers that cares for stray dogs has also to care for the respect of law in this country and for mental peace of its inhabitants instead that this be done by such a large number of employees in numerous institutions of this country who are for the concrete and similar situations paid from the budget?
A fierce media attack on dogs was carried out although the mentioned bites were caused by owned dogs, and the entire anti-dog campaign was imputed, as has always been the case, to stray dogs; and immediately thereafter "spontaneously" followed an unprecedented organized raid by dogcatchers all over Belgrade, who were working in two shifts catching unselectively all dogs, including those cared for which do not make any trouble to anybody as they have been living for years in the streets without any incident. The biggest absurd is the fact that those who are catching most of such dogs without any appropriate reason and who are condemning them to lifelong detention, used to send them back as tame among people, as recently as yesterday. All of us living in this country know that anyone can treat the dogs in the way that pleases him.
TV companies did not take any statement of any of the NGOs in such a "crucial moment for the entire nation" - because, if the whole of Serbia was alarmed because of the dogs, it would have been logical to hear their voice as well. “EI 17” has offered a statement to TV Pink, as it had been advised about the maltreatment of a small owned dog in Zemun; however, they did not even send us any answer – just to illustrate the communication culture of the TV Company having the highest viewer rating in Serbia. Nobody came to help him, and no matter how it might sound as pure heresy in the present-day boiling situation – the dog was not guilty because there was nobody to prevent what happened! However, these are the topics that, in principle, are not interesting for them. The cardinal rule of journalism to present both sides rarely applies when dogs are concerned.
We were surprised to see the police on recorded to catch the dogs – the policemen that were on strike and who had declared that they would intervene only in the case of criminal offenses?! Is it possible that catching dogs in the streets has become a criminal offense overnight, and in someone’s interest? The police, the authority whose main task is to keep order in any country, is used in Belgrade for catching the puppies?! It was nothing else but demonstration of the horrible force and violence.
Anti-stray dog media campaign launched in 2000 has never ended. Dogs were at that time taken out from complete anonymity and placed under the floodlights of TV cameras and the public to become, by now, unprecedented victims of exploitation and manipulation by the media. It is just the dogs in this society, and no one else, who have been persecuted, and also demonized, continuously and with so much dedication.
The approach to the issue of stray dogs is impermissibly superficial, mainly arbitrary and personal, above all. As responsibility towards citizens is non-existent, they have been deprived of the basic information of the essence of this problem, the measures being taken and of their desirable behavior towards the dogs. Recently, TV Pink made an effort, when broadcasting the catching of dogs around the "Pavle Savid" primary school (well, not for the first time) in Mirijevo, but also of catching the snakes, to invite a snake expert who said that they were not dangerous. However, no dog expert has been invited, as has always been the case! It is deploring and unforgivable that the concern of the media when dogs are in question only ranges from an incident to a bite!
The genesis of each bite is the violence against the dog, and cynophobia the cause of all incidents with them.
Consequently, and taking into account that any campaign against anyone is, actually, a call to lynch someone, the dogs in this case, is it permissible that electronic media of a state that hopes to get the status of candidate for EU membership are calling to violence?
Why is nobody reacting to such public calls to violence: from institutions to authorities to numerous NGOs that are rating high in the media because they are funded from abroad?
Any campaign against someone incites commission of criminal offenses, disturbs the public, causes panic (criminal acts) and, as if it were not sufficient, instills CONSCIENTIOUSLY enormous amounts of fear to citizens of the dogs, thus creating the ideal conditions for a war between men and dogs, which will inevitably lead to a striking increase of the number of bitten citizens and of the number of killed or maltreated dogs. WHOSE GOAL IS THAT, after all?
Let it be clear, bites and incidents with dogs happen in any country and will always happen because life is also made of incidents, as there will also be INCIDENTS WITH DOGS. However, giving so much room in the media, including in the news, is morbid, particularly when the news about the murder of a man or about other suffering of people is broadcasted once and generally not repeated, while the programs dedicated to the incidents with dogs are broadcasted as TV novellas – ad nauseam! Is it normal?
Yes, in Serbia is being waged a special war against dogs because such “reporting” about dogs by the media really has numerous features of the classical: the perfidiousness. Neither citizens nor dogs are aware that they are the target of the attack, everything turns out to have happened naturally (and is, de facto, provoked), the purpose is to change the mental matrix of conscience in a manner adequate to accomplish the goal (destruction of stray dogs) and to conduct the contemplative process of the population. WHO IS STANDING BEHIND SOMETHING SO MONSTROUS IN SERBIA?
Why has someone for so many years been hiding the truth and preventing the citizens from understanding the problem and from learning to live with stray dogs? Why has nobody explained to them that there must be dogs because there are no mechanisms as yet that would prevent inflow of new ones? Why has nobody asked those who are “bothered” by a dog that, by the way, does not cause any trouble to them, if they would prefer someone else unknown to them, instead of the dog, approach and, perhaps, cause them trouble? Why is someone constantly maintaining and supporting the generally widespread misconception that dogs can be eliminated in order to build upon that misconception the conflict between us who love and do not love the dogs? One, then, wonders, how do the media inform us at all?
This intensive elimination of the dogs across Belgrade is nothing else but a pure pre-election farce.
By using the methods applicable in the rest of the world, according to the data of "Veterina Beograd", E17 did an analysis of the bites caused to humans by stray dogs in Belgrade http://evropskainicijativa17.blogspot.com/2011/08/analiza-ujedljivosti-beogradskih.html which shows that in Belgrade, with thousands of stray dogs, annual incidence of dog bites caused to humans is 0,11%, or incomparably less than in the countries not having stray dogs! Why then, and with what right are Belgrade stray dogs demonized in the media – without any supporting facts – and in whose interest?
Well, if for citizens of Serbia the dogs are a problem more serious than their craving for everyday bread and general despair this is, then, a rarely happy country which they failed to become aware of.
As a proof of the above, follows the number of TV programs dedicated to dogs which were broadcasted in a couple of days only, and the number is frightening - worthy of the famous Goebbels propaganda!
European initiative 17
www.evropskainicijativa17.blogspot.com
evropskainicijativa17@hotmail.com
Owned dog attacked a child / dangerous dog breeds:
Date: Tuesday, 11/10/2011 Media: 1 RTS 1 TV, Time: 17:45:00
Country: Serbia Program: Beogradska hronika, Duration: 00:01:09
Date: Tuesday, 11/10/2011 Media: B92 TV, Time: 18:30:00
Country: Serbia Program: News of te Day, Duration: 00:00:48
Date: Tuesday, 11/10/2011 Media: STUDIO B TV Time: 19:00:00
Country: Serbia Program: News, Duration: 00:01:51
Date: Tuesday, 11/10/2011 Media: Prva TV, Time: 19:00:00
Country: Serbia Program: News, Duration: 00:01:15
Date: Tuesday, 11/10/2011 Media: 1 RTS 1 TV, Time: 19:20:00
Country: Serbia Program: Dnevnik 2, Duration: 00:00:37
Date: Tuesday, 11/10/2011 Media: B92 TV, Time: 23:00:00
Country: Serbia Program: News B92, Duration: 00:03:07
Date: Wednesday, 12/10/2011 Media: 1 RTS 1, TV Time: 06:00:00
Country: Serbia Program: Jutarnji program, Duration: 00:06:38
Date: Wednesday, 12/10/2011 Media: STUDIO B TV, Time: 07:00:00
Country: Serbia Program: Beograde, dobro jutro, Duration: 00:02:05
Date: Wednesday, 12/10/2011 Media: Avala TV, Time: 14:00:00
Country: Serbia Program: News, Duration: 00:00:54
Date: Wednesday, 12/10/2011 Media: Happy TV, Time: 18:00:00
Country: Serbia Program: Telemaster, Duration: 00:00:26
Date: Wednesday, 12/10/2011 Media: PINK TV, Time: 19:30:00
Country: Serbia Program: Nacionalni dnevnik, Duration: 00:00:21
Date: Thursday, 13/10/2011 Media: 1 RTS 1 TV, Time: 00:15:00
Country: Serbia Program: Dnevnik 3, Duration: 00:02:05
Date: Friday, 14/10/2011 Media: 1 RTS 1, TV Time: 06:00:00
Country: Serbia Program: Jutarnji program, Duration: 00:02:04
Date: Saturday, 15/10/2011 Media: PINK TV, Time: 07:00:00
Country: Serbia Program: Dobro jutro, Duration: 00:08:24
Date: Monday, 17/10/2011 Media: 1 RTS 1, TV Time: 06:00:00
Country: Serbia Program: Jutarnji program, Duration: 00:01:29
Catching dogs in Šumice/Dedinje:
Date: Wednesday, 12/10/2011 Media: PINK TV, Time: 20:00:00
Country: Serbia Program: Nacionalni dnevnik, Duration: 00:02:28
Date: Wednesday, 12/10/2011 Media: Avala TV, Time: 18:00:00
Country: Serbia Program: News, Duration: 00:01:29
Date: Wednesday, 12/10/2011 Media: 1 RTS 1, TV Time: 17:45:00
Country: Serbia Program: Beogradska hronika, Duration: 00:01:31
Date: Wednesday, 12/10/2011 Media: B92 TV, Time: 18:30:00
Country: Serbia Program: News B92, Duration: 00:02:28
Date: Wednesday, 12/10/2011 Media: STUDIO B TV, Time: 19:00:00
Country: Serbia Program: News, Duration: 00:09:27
Date: Wednesday, 12/10/2011 Media: Prva TV, Time: 19:00:00
Country: Serbia Program: News, Duration: 00:01:51
Date: Wednesday, 12/10/2011 Media: PINK TV, Time: 19:30:00
Country: Serbia Program: Nacionalni dnevnik, Duration: 00:01:14
Date: Wednesday, 12/10/2011 Media: PINK TV, Time: 19:30:00
Country: Serbia Program: Nacionalni dnevnik, Duration: 00:01:17
Date: Wednesday, 12/10/2011 Media: 1 RTS 1 TV, Time: 19:20:00
Country: Serbia Program: Dnevnik 2, Duration: 00:00:38
Date: Thursday, 13/10/2011 Media: PINK TV, Time: 07:00:00
Country: Serbia Program: Dobro jutro, Duration: 00:14:14
Date: Thursday, 13/10/2011 Media: Avala TV, Time: 09:00:00
Country: Serbia Program: Otvoreni studio, Duration: 00:01:49
Date: Thursday, 13/10/2011 Media: STUDIO B TV, Time: 07:00:00
Country: Serbia Program: Beograde, dobro jutro, Duration: 00:06:44
Date: Thursday, 13/10/2011 Media: PINK TV, Time: 17:40:00
Country: Serbia Program: Nacionalni dnevnik, Duration: 00:00:45
Date: Thursday, 13/10/2011 Media: Prva TV, Time: 19:00:00
Country: Serbia Program: News, Duration: 00:02:00
Date: Thursday, 13/10/2011 Media: PINK TV, Time: 19:30:00
Country: Serbia Program: Nacionalni dnevnik, Duration: 00:00:47
Date: Saturday, 15/10/2011 Media: PINK TV, Time: 19:30:00
Country: Serbia Program: Nacionalni dnevnik, Duration: 00:00:43
Owned dog in Zemun:
Date: Saturday, 15/10/2011 Media: B92 TV, Time: 16:00:00
Country: Serbia Program: News B92, Duration: 00:01:38
Date: Saturday, 15/10/2011 Media: Avala TV, Time: 18:00:00
Country: Serbia Program: News, Duration: 00:00:41
Date: Saturday, 15/10/2011 Media: Prva TV, Time: 19:00:00
Country: Serbia Program: News, Duration: 00:02:02
Date: Saturday, 15/10/2011 Media: 1 RTS 1 TV, Time: 19:20:00
Country: Serbia Program: Dnevnik 2, Duration: 00:01:36
Date: Saturday, 15/10/2011 Media: 1 RTS 1 TV, Time: 19:20:00
Country: Serbia Program: Dnevnik 2, Duration: 00:01:36
Protest against Anti-Dog Campaign:
Date: Sunday, 16/10/2011 Media: Avala TV, Time: 18:00:00
Country: Serbia Program: News, Duration: 00:01:20
Date: Sunday, 16/10/2011 Media: Prva TV, Time: 19:00:00
Country: Serbia Program: News, Duration: 00:01:16
Date: Sunday, 16/10/2011 Media: 1 RTS 1, TV Time: 19:30:00
Country: Serbia Program: Dnevnik 2, Duration: 00:02:03
Date: Sunday, 16/10/2011 Media: B92 TV, Time: 16:00:00
Country: Serbia Program: News B92, Duration: 00:02:03
Date: Sunday, 16/10/2011 Media: B92 TV, Time: 18:30:00
Country: Serbia Program: News B92, Duration: 00:02:03
Date: Sunday, 16/10/2011 Media: STUDIO B TV, Time: 19:00:00
Country: Serbia Program: News, Duration: 00:03:23
Date: Monday, 17/10/2011 Media: Avala TV, Time: 09:00:00
Country: Serbia Program: Otvoreni studio, Duration: 00:02:28
Date: Monday, 17/10/2011 Media: STUDIO B TV, Time: 07:00:00
Country: Serbia Program: Beograde, dobro jutro, Duration: 00:03:35
Announcing Law Amendments:
Date: Tuesday, 18/10/2011 Media: 1 RTS 1 TV, Time: 17:45:00
Country: Serbia Program: Beogradska hronika, Duration: 00:02:04
Date: Wednesday, 19/10/2011 Media: 1 RTS 1 TV, Time: 06:00:00
Country: Serbia Program: Jutarnji program, Duration: 00:02:08
Recorded Dog Catching in Šumice and Dedinje:
Date: Wednesday, 12/10/2011 Media: PINK TV, Time: 17:40:00
Country: Serbia Program: Nacionalni dnevnik, Duration: 00:02:28
Date: Wednesday, 12/10/2011 Media: 1 RTS 1 TV, Time: 17:45:00
Country: Serbia Program: Beogradska hronika, Duration: 00:01:31
Date: Wednesday, 12/10/2011 Media: STUDIO B TV, Time: 19:00:00
Country: Serbia Program: News, Duration: 00:09:27
Date: Wednesday, 12/10/2011 Media: PINK TV, Time: 19:30:00
Country: Serbia Program: Nacionalni dnevnik, Duration: 00:01:14
Date: Thursday, 13/10/2011 Media: PINK TV, Time: 07:00:00
Country: Serbia Program: Dobro jutro, Duration: 00:14:14
Date: Thursday, 13/10/2011 Media: STUDIO B TV, Time: 07:00:00
Country: Serbia Program: Beograde, dobro jutro, Duration: 00:06:44
Date: Thursday, 13/10/2011 Media: PINK TV, Time: 17:40:00
Country: Serbia Program: Nacionalni dnevnik, Duration: 00:00:45
Date: Thursday, 13/10/2011 Media: PINK TV, Time: 19:30:00
Country: Serbia Program: Nacionalni dnevnik, Duration: 00:00:47
Date: Saturday, 15/10/2011 Media: PINK TV, Time: 19:30:00
Country: Serbia Program: Nacionalni dnevnik, Duration: 00:00:43
Dog catching on TV!
