Matadors and fans outraged as Spanish state

TV bans live bullfights.

By Giles Tremlett. guardian.co.uk, Sunday 9 January 2011

New rules mean violence to animals cannot be shown before 10pm watershed to protect
children, broadcaster says

The bullfight - known as the 'national fiesta' in Spain.

Furious fans have accused the state broadcaster of
shunning a key part of the country's culture.
Photograph: John Jairo Bonilla/EPA

Spain’s state broadcaster, TVE, has banned live

bullfighting from its schedule, angering matadors and
bullfighting fans who are already smarting over a ban in the eastern region of Catalonia.

The broadcaster has decided bullfighting contravenes its code of conduct for programmes
before Spain's 10pm watershed hour, when children are no longer expected to be in front of
the television.

Most bullfights start at 6pm or 7pm, and the TVE director general, Alberto Oliart, said that
meant they fall into children's viewing hours – when violence to animals cannot be shown.

"TVE will not show bullfights because of the time they take place, which mostly coincides
with the time of day when there is special protection for children," the broadcaster's new
style guide states.

Furious fans accused the broadcaster of shunning a key part of Spanish popular culture.
"This means that TVE, which belongs to us all, will deprive us of something that over the
centuries has formed part of the cultural patrimony of many Spaniards, both of the political
right and the left," columnist Andrés Amorós wrote in the conservative ABC daily.

TVE said it was not turning its back entirely on what is known in Spain as "the national fiesta"
and is covered by newspapers in their arts pages.

"We are not indifferent to the importance of the bullfighting world or to its social and
cultural influence," the broadcaster said. It will maintain late night television and radio
programmes devoted to bullfighting and pledges to cover the issues surrounding it.

The broadcaster will also continue to provide live coverage of the San Fermin bull runs in
Pamplona, where half a dozen fighting bulls are run along a half a mile course through the
city's streets every morning for eight days in July.
The early evening bullfights at which the same bulls are killed will not, however, be
broadcast on state television.

TVE stopped regular live broadcasts of the major bullfighting festivals from Madrid, Seville
and elsewhere four years ago, claiming it had been priced out of the market by private
broadcasters.

The Catalan regional parliament voted in July to ban bullfights as of next year.

Broadcasters owned by regional governments in Madrid and elsewhere will continue to

provide live corridas. State broadcasts of bullfights were allegedly used at times of political
tension by the Francisco Franco to stop demonstrators taking to the streets.

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COMPOSITION: Write a composition of about 125 words on the following topic:

“Do you agree with the Spanish TV ban on bullfighting?”