On “pit bulls” and the media
One of the funniest postcard pics yet!
Recently, I had the opportunity to watch a well-done DVD called The Pit Bull Hoax: The Truth Behind the Media’s Mythical Monster. Produced by Drayton Michaels, the video “examines the facts behind dog bite incidents, effective methods of prevention, and the opinions of today’s leading animal behaviorists on how one breed, the Pit Bull Terrier, has been unfairly cast as the villain.” The DVD is fantastic, and the message is really simple: These are human problems, not “pit bull” problems. So the question is: Why have pit bulls become “the media’s mythical monster?”
A powerful message
Unfortunately, splashy headlines sell newspapers and magazines. They get clicks on web stories. Media professionals capitalize on this and toss around the “pit bull” headline – at least when it suits their needs. Take this story, for example, “Female Dog Leads Chained Friend to Freedom.” It’s a darling, heart-warming story. Though the dogs are pit bulls, the headline certainly doesn’t reflect that. Would the story have been less appealing to readers if it had been advertised in the headline that it was a pit bull who did the courageous deed for another pit bull?
Even cats want to end BSL!
And that media bias just fuels the breed’s bad reputation. Unfair reporting means that the dogs are constantly vilified without getting the equal positive coverage that they so clearly deserve. This unjust reporting exacerbates the problem – bad people who want a status dog see the pit bull portrayed as the biggest bad ass out there, so they gravitate to the breed, then neglect, mistreat, abuse, and under-socialize their dogs, who might then bite the neighbor’s kid, which gets reported as another pit bull biting a child, and on it goes.
Oh, the sweetness!
As an aside, I can’t help but apply my years as a media professional to this situation. With nearly a decade of marketing, branding, editorial, and public relations experience under my belt, there is a tremendous opportunity here. While we’re combating BSL in Denver, I’m also starting to think about what’s next…
In the meantime, I am so incredibly excited about the progress we’re making with the Campaign to End BSL! In fact, a recent Denver Post article indicates that we’re on a winning path! I will never, ever be able to express how grateful I am to all of you for your support, your efforts, your blogging, your tweeting!
So what do you think: Why is the media so biased against pit bulls? What can change their perceptions?
Great message, darling little face!
Next Tuesday: From the mouths of babes! Thanks to a wonderful dog named Gunny, schoolchildren from North Carolina sent stacks of heartfelt, well-written postcards. They’re impressive beyond what I could have ever imagined. I’m in the process of scanning them in and will post some here next week and in a photo album on Facebook!
And don’t forget to comment if you’ve written about BSL so I can add it to the growing Anti-BSL Link Library!
Maggie on June 22nd 2010 in Animal Rights
EmilyS said on 22 Jun 2010 at 1:39 pm #
why?
1)sensationalism sells
2) reporters are not geniuses. they don’t think. they write what they are fed
3) pack mentality; reporters don’t go against the grain of “what everyone knows”
Tweets that mention Oh My Dog! » On “pit bulls” and the media -- Topsy.com said on 22 Jun 2010 at 2:01 pm #
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by James Ryan Moreau, Maggie Marton. Maggie Marton said: Today's #endBSL post: On "pit bulls" and the media http://ow.ly/21OHP [...]
Amanda & the Mutts said on 23 Jun 2010 at 8:30 am #
We live in a culture where much of the way we think and behave is motivated by fear. (We could be here all week talking about how and why that came to be.)
With dogs, there has always been an “in” bad breed.
In the 1980′s it was the German Shepherds, in the ’90s fear was focused more on Rottweilers and Dobermans, and now here we are on “Pit Bulls”.
One of the biggest things that concerns me is that the vast majority of people don’t even know what exactly a ‘Pit Bull’ is. Arguably, nobody does, because there is no such thing since the true breed is the American Pit Bull Terrier. Many, many breeds are reported as Pit Bulls in the case of attacks or legal disputes.
In my opinion, these problems almost always track back to a lack of education (often even in the case of breed advocates). In order for people not to fear something, they need to understand it. Unfortunately, we also live in a culture of people who “know everything” and can sometimes be very difficult to educate. It’s an uphill battle, that’s for sure.
Maggie said on 23 Jun 2010 at 9:12 am #
It’s unfortunate that we can’t rely on reporters to investigate and research their stories – in fact, I recently came across two articles that only used dogsbite.org as the sole source. That’s not reporting. Fear and sensationalism aside, it seems like laziness on the part of the journalists!
Mayzie's mom said on 24 Jun 2010 at 1:50 pm #
Awww…it’s Mayzie!
As you said, sensationalism sells. And there’s a lot of evidence that many times a dog is initially reported as a pit bull and then it’s revealed later that it wasn’t. But does the media clarify that? No. All people remember is that another one of those “bad” pit bulls attacked again. And then throw in how notoriously hard it is to properly identify breeds and many times a dog that is reported as a pit bull may not be one at all.
A personal story: About a year and a half ago (before we had Mayzie), I was walking our dog on leash in our neighborhood and he was attacked by a 110 pound shepherd mix. I ended up having to lay on the ground and put my legs between my dog and the attacking dog. Luckily, Ranger sustained some puncture wounds but was not seriously hurt. However, because of the owner’s apparent lack of concern, we reported it to the ACO. They paid some damages and agreed to take their dog to training and that was that. Not a single news crew showed up on my doorstep.
A few months later in my city, there was a headline story: “Pit Bulls Attack Woman and Her Dog.” A woman got out of her car and two loose “pit bulls” went after her dog. In the confusion, she fell down and skinned her knee. Her dog sustained NO actual wounds. And yet – this was news. Why? Because they could use “pit bull” in the headline.
It’s just so wrong on so many levels. There’s SO much misinformation out there and it sometimes feels like we’re swimming upstream. But luckily there are people out there like you who are helping fight the good fight and I hope that we’re making some progress.
Sorry that was long-winded! Thanks for letting me ramble!
Amber
Maggie said on 24 Jun 2010 at 2:06 pm #
Wow, Amber. First of all, I’m glad neither you nor Ranger were seriously injured. Scary.
Your stories illustrate the imbalance in the news when it comes to reporting dog bites. I would like to encourage everyone to write letters to these reporters – their email addresses are typically at the top of their stories when published online – and ask why they’re not reporting equal, fair, unbiased stories. Maybe point them to a couple helpful resources or offer to answer questions.
You’re right about the swimming upstream, but… we can do it!