The broadcasting authority is warning that opinion should not be viewed as fact after the animal welfare commissioner implied on a TVM programme that people who claim they love all animals but consume meat are ‘hypocrites’.
The BA sounded the warning following a complaint by Malcolm Borg ‒ who is in charge of MCAST’s Centre for Agriculture, Aquatics and Animal Sciences ‒ over comments by Alison Bezzina during the April 22 edition of Animal Diaries.
Bezzina was reacting to concern flagged by a viewer on the weekly programme hosted by activist Moira Delia. The viewer said her 13-year-old daughter, who really loved animals, had told her she no longer wanted to consume meat.
The mother said she was concerned that cutting out meat from her diet would be detrimental to the girl’s health.
Alison Bezzina (right) being interviewed by Moira Delia during the Animal Diaries programme.Reacting, Bezzina acknowledged that some children nowadays were recognising the link between animals and meat consumption: “She is realising that you cannot love all animals but at the same time eat them.
“She is also realising – because nowadays there is more research – that it is untrue that one has to consume meat in order to be healthy.”
Bezzina said there were athletes who not only did not eat meat but did not consume other products derived from animal-rearing, such as milk and eggs.
“Woman, put your mind at rest that there are no health risks if your daughter maintains a balanced diet without meat,” she said.
Bezzina added that there were health benefits for those who reduced meat consumption.
She commended the woman for bringing up her child with strong principles, capable of reasoning out issues, “and is not a hypocrite. She doesn’t say I love animals but just dogs and cats”.
'Comments could substantially impact farm animal rearers'
Borg, who also heads Għaqda Bdiewa Attivi and the Malta Agricultural Consultative Council, complained that Bezzina was implying that children who loved animals but consumed meat were hypocrites.
He said she was pushing her personal agenda against the consumption of meat and her comments could substantially impact farm animal rearers, importers of meat, restaurants and meat business owners.
His legal representative, Mary Rose Micallef, said the ‘hypocrite’ reference was out of place, especially during a programme intended to educate.
PBS editor-in-chief, Charles Dalli, however, said the comments needed to be taken in the context of an animal-themed programme and not a broadcast on nutrition and health. Bezzina, he said, was not promoting a meat-free diet but was just answering a question by a viewer.
In its decision, the BA, however, warned that facts need to be correct and opinion cannot be passed on as fact.
“The authority feels that during the interview there were comments by the commissioner for animal welfare that were out of place.
“The authority, therefore, upholds [Borg’s] complaint and requests a clarification is read out during the Animal Diaries programme of July 1.”