- Pit Bull Reporting is a Sensationalized & Newsworthy Subject“Man has domesticated dogs to the point they serve as companions, workers and even objects of beauty. Dogs will protect man, see for him, hunt for him and play. No one breed is more inherently good or evil, vicious, harmful or helpful. It is man who is responsible for the dog’s behavior, not the breed of dog.
-“Dog Genetics and Behavior, By Glen Bui, American Canine Foundation - “A fatal attack by an unremarkable breed of dog is not nearly as newsworthy as a non –fatal attack by a pit bull. “-Karen Delise, researcher for the National Canine Research CouncilAccording to the National Canine Research Council there is a media bias against the pit bull. The Council had come to this conclusion after conducting a survey of several dog bit incidents. In their report the Council compared the coverage of dog bite incidents against several other breeds. In each case the incident was mildly reported in one or two local newspapers. However, in examining a bit bull incident where a 59 year old woman was attacked by a pit bull, the Council found over 200 articles in both national and international papers. In addition, the story was covered on TV networks such CNN, Fox and MSNBC.As a result of this type of reporting the general public’s perception of the pit bull is much different than other breeds. The public often takes action against the pit bull by enacting laws and public policies that unfairly punish the pit bull. The action taken by the public is without any regard to the dog’s disposition and the dog owner is also unfairly restricted. These newspaper articles are so biased that the public accepts the information as evidence or proof that all pit bulls are aggressive and should remain in lock cages at all times. In Minnesota, there is legislation that is being proposed to completely ban the pit bull within the state.
- According to Courtney, the reporters fail in covering all dog bite attacks by avoiding mentioning the true cause of an attack. If the true circumstances were provided then the stories would be less newsworthy and less interesting to the public. In researching the media bias the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) has provided much information to help eliminate the hysteria caused by the sensationalized reporting of pit bull attacks. The ASPCA has reported that the news media has no interest in reporting on dog bite attacks unless their reports involve a pit bull.
http://blogs.denverpost.com/fetch/2010/07/18/the-media-takes-its-lumps-over-reporting-about-pit-bulls/1387/ - This rare footage shows two pit bulls sharing some quiet time together as opposed to the sensational media coverage of vicious attacks !
- Rare footage of how a pit bull can "return a favor " to the family who rescued the dog from the compound. The boy's "new best friend" is credited with saving his life.
- How much do we blame media distortion on the pit bull’s bad rap?As discussed earlier, Monika Courtney also looked at headlines over a period of five years only to determine that pit bulls made up only 8% of the dog bites reported in the state of Colorado. The reporter even discovered that Labradors caused the most attacks and you would never think of a Labrador as vicious as the pit bull. Another interesting fact is that the pit bull family is made up of many different breeds, including the American Pit Bull Terrier, the American Staffordshire terrier and the Staffordshire bull terrier. These breeds score a combined canine temperament score of 86.6% which is a higher percentage that the Golden Retriever of 83.6%. If a family were to choose between the pit bull and the retriever it most certainly would choose the retriever. Why, because to the perceived viciousness of the breed as opposed to the perceived family friendly retriever. Our perceptions and beliefs based upon the media’s false distortions have resulted in numerous lawsuits, senseless killing of thousands of dogs and big legal fees paid by cities to support pit bull bans. Even the San Francisco Chronicle, a well know and widely read newspaper has been found to deliver biased reporting against the pit bull. Of 34 dog bite stories, written in 2005 there were 22 of 34 articles that mentioned the pit bull in its headline. The remaining 12 articles did not mention a breed type at all, although there were boxers, retrievers and Shepard involved in various attacks.
- Typical biased picture of a pit bull v the golden retriever. The retriever has a worse temperament than the pit bull but you would never believe this fact by the media portrayal.
- Pit Bull Myth Busters
The pit bull is really not a breed which confuses all statistics for this dog. This breed is really a type of dog that includes several registered breeds and crossbreeds. Therefore, upon reading about bite and attack statistics on the pit bull you are looking at behavior across several breeds, which distorts the actual behavior traits of this animal. According to the ASPCA there are 25 breeds that are considered pit bulls. In our furthering our education about these animals we will look at the myths about the pit bull to be revealed with facts as opposed to distorted, bias reporting.
Each myth is unveiled as follows:Myth: Pit Bulls or Pit Bull type dogs are human aggressive by nature.Fact: Studies by the Center for Disease Control have proven that no one breed of dog is inherently vicious. The CDC supports the position that irresponsible owners, NOT breed, is the number one cause of dog bites.Myth: Pit Bulls or Pit Bull type dogs are inherently vicious.Fact: No more vicious than Golden Retrievers, Beagles, or other popular “family” dogs. In a recent testing done by The American Canine Temperament Testing Society (ATT), pit bulls achieved a passing rate of 83.9%, passing 4th from the highest of 122 breeds. That’s better than Beagles, passing at 78.2 and Golden Retrievers passing at 83.2%. The average passing rate for ALL breeds is 77%.Myth: Pit Bulls or Pit Bull type dogs are responsible for most fatal dog attacks.Fact: From 1965 – 2001, there have been at least 36 different breeds/types of dog that have been involved in a fatal attack in the United States. (This number rises to at least 52 breeds/types when surveying fatal attacks worldwide).When dog bite statistics are taken into consideration versus the population, “Pit Bulls” come in at the BOTTOM of the list.
Regardless of what the media has to say about pit bull there is no denying the pit bull is unfairly reported and is no more dangerous that other dog types. It is only in our best interest as a humane society that we educate ourselves on the true nature of the pit bull. - Through his training and education on aggressive animals, this Arlington police officer saved the day. He realized that the dog needed help rather than having to take down a vicious killing animal. Clearly both the officer and the dog understand the caring nature of each other.
Tuesday, 17 March 2015
SENSATIONLIZED “MEDIA REPORTING” HAS CREATED THE FRENZY AGAINST THE PIT BULL Media reporting of pit bull attacks has created a false belief in our society that pit bulls are a breed of dog that has a natural hatred and dangerous aggression toward humans and should therefore be declared "unlawful to own" .
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