Yesterday, I was still stewing about the TIME article as I sat in a rental car parking lot waiting for John. (RIP, Saturn Ion. You gave us 10 good years.)
Anyway, I got a ding, glanced at my phone, and balked. The headline: KENTUCKY FRIED HOAX. Story of girl getting tossed from KFC bogus; ‘It never happened.’
You can read the full article here or in any of the other outlets like Yahoo! that are covering the fraud, but gist is that the little girl who was mauled by three of her grandfather’s 10 pit bulls… never got kicked out of KFC… never disturbed other patrons with her scars… never ordered mashed potatoes and sweet tea… in fact, she never even went into KFC. The hoax netted the fund started by the girl’s aunt over $135,000 (up from the $595 they had raised prior to the “incident”) plus offers of free surgery and an additional $30,000 pledged by KFC.
What does this mean?
This means that Alter’s reporting in TIME was even shoddier than we thought yesterday. This means that the impetus for writing her fake story was… fake. This means that we can safely assume that, since the biggest “fact” of her entire story wasn’t fact-checked, pretty much none of them were. And what does that mean for TIME?
Circling back around to my point from yesterday, what does it all really mean for the big picture?
Will all the people who were enticed to click on the splashy article yesterday click on the fraud article, which appeared in a small local paper, to get the rest of the story?
Will TIME run a retraction? Will they correct their errors? They haven’t yet, and in the age of the internet when you can make changes in real time, that’s deplorable and unconscionable.
We have effectively “buried the lede,” to use a journalism quote. The conversation has been steered by Alter, Lynn, PETA, Clifton, and this girl’s desperate family. We’re talking about KFC and we’re talking about fraudulent parents and we’re talking about journalistic integrity. Even the “other side” has latched onto this story and the hoax by saying (I’m condensing several comments here), “Of course they lied. They’re pit bull people.”
We’ve lost sight of the big picture. The critical elements – dog bite safety, animal welfare, the details of the mauling, punishments for negligent pet owners (and parents), how to address the root causes that result in little girls’ faces getting bitten – have been glossed over.
On yesterday’s post, my friend Pamela said it best: “The truly sad thing is that some people who are bit by dogs suffer tremendously. We need to prevent bites as a public health problem. And demonizing one group of dogs based on their appearance has not saved one person.”
Preventing dog bites. That needs to be our bottom line.
I’m lucky to know many wonderful people who work tirelessly to improve the reputation of pit bulls, to improve the conditions of companion animals, and to improve education and outreach efforts to teach dog bite safety.
I get indignant when stories like this distract and detract from the efforts of those big-hearted, dedicated advocates.
I’m furious that stories like this fuel the hatred and anger of the anti-pit-bull contingent.
But, beyond feeling angry, the whole thing is just sad.
It’s sad that the little girl was attacked, and it’s sad that her family was so desperate that they pulled this scam. It’s sad there were 10 dogs in a house without proper containment, training, restraint, supervision, and more. It’s sad that the garbage Alter wrote was published and widely circulated. And it’s sad that nothing will likely happen because of this mess, except more prejudice against pit bulls and their advocates.
Many days can feel like an uphill battle. I guess some days the hill is steeper than others.
Write those letters. Hug your dogs.
As a reporter, it drives me absolutely INSANE when media outlets write stories without fact checking them. I spend so much time and energy making sure I have things straight so that I can continue to have the good reputation that I do. Unfortunately, it gets marred by the irresponsible people that plague the industry. I’m thankful that I have an editorial staff that would rather me take a day or two to contact my sources and run my stories late than run it and issue corrections later. Sadly, this is a rare quality in an industry where it is more important to get things first than to get them right.
As a dog owner, I’m equally annoyed by the terrible reputation that Pits get. My Golden Lab is just as likely to bite or attack under the right circumstances as any other dog. Why should she be trusted more than a Pit? I go through great pains to train my dog and learn her body language so I can avoid a bad situation. I wish people would realize that dogs aren’t the problem. People are the problem.
I’ve done several long editorials and big pieces which took a LOT of legwork and reporting time. The reality is none of those stories generated great ROI for the publication I was working for or my own websites. By that I mean got a good amount of shares or had SEO benefit. Many other journalist will tell you the same thing.
It’s extremely frustrating for writers and editors when memes and fake stories, like this KFC thing, get shared more than hard journalistic pieces.
This is why fact checking, making phone calls, and driving around talking to people has gone out the window. You are in competition to get it out first or at least make sure your publication covered it.
I still don’t believe a these large media outlets have an excuse to not go out and fact check though. They have more money than God and they can’t pay people to do due diligence? That’s BS!
Mom Kim here with just a brief comment since I am at work. I am not a Pit Bull owner – I wish I could be but the town I live in (moving is not really a viable option for me) anyway the town I live in is not at all for the good a Pitty can be. But my point is this – any dog, any breed of dog, given the right set of circumstances can SNAP! Case in point – just heard from my sis – her little 8 year old Westie, whom I have never known to be anything but a sweet, affectionate and playful dog – after being antagonized by my 3 year old 2nd cousin, snapped at him – luckily no contact made and luckily my sis was there to intervene (she is baby-sitting). However like you said – bite prevention is what is needed and little kids NEED to know that when an adult says NO, don’t do that then don’t do it. This child has had little guidance by his parents and thinks things like this are a joke and funny.
Oh, and about this situation, sis says it (a hoax) has already hit Facebook and if I am on FB tonite, it will hit FB again. KFC has begun an investigation into the whole mess – surveillance cameras don’t show that the grandmother and little girl were in the KFC all day and no receipts show their purchase. The scam is all over google however the family is denying it was a scam.
Back to work……
Mom Kim
PS – and yeah, what happened to journalism integrity?
We work so hard. So. hard. to be good ambassadors and most days it’s just by being good dogs (of any breed or type) that the boys shine. This one step forward and three steps back cadence gets to be a bit wearing for certain.
I’ve actually noticed a large majority of responsible animal owners who were unaware of the Time article at all, so then I partly like it might have faded away without any attention.
I have not heard from a single person who feels any more strongly for or against Pit Bull types than they did before the article hit the internet.
The people who blindly cling to archaic, narrow-minded biases have only been reaffirmed by one of their own and Pit bull advocates will continue fighting the good fight.
Well written. I saw this on FB. But I assume nearly everything I see on FB is either a hoax or exaggerated greatly. We need to have more responsible dog owners. We need education for those preparing to become dog owners and an effective manner of dealing with those who are not acting responsibly. Any dog can do a lot of damage to a human if it is provoked. However, it seems the people we have been running into with large breeds (aggressive stereotypes) of dogs have not done any dog training and are just heavy handed with handling the dog. Maybe instead of having cities require dog licenses they should require people to have dog ownership licenses.
Your Pals,
Murphy & Stanley (and a little help from mom)
Sometimes all you can do is hug a pibble and hope tomorrow is better.
Thanks for the great post. While I’m a hound person at heart, I love animals of every shape and size, and love the Pitties. During the time my dog rescue was active, I rescued almost as many Pitties and Pit mixes as I did hounds. Living near Gary, I did what I could for as many of the dogs there as I could, and I’d have to guess that about half the dogs coming through that shelter are Pit or Pit mix. I’m also a volunteer rescue transport driver and have driven hundreds of dogs from that place – dogs being pulled by other rescues and needing a ride to their vet, or to their foster home, or just getting to the rescue when it’s further away. Some of the dogs were obviously used for breeding (and breeding and breeding). Some as bait dogs. Some even as fighting dogs. Some have obviously been taking care of, but more have not. Yet despite the beginnings these dogs have had and the lack of care and love they received, the vast majority were sweet and gentle and as far from the sterotype of “Pit Bull” as a dog can be. One thing I’ve noticed about the majority of dog bite cases. Two facts are usually present. One, the dog(s) were unaltered. Two, the dogs were un- or under-socialized. Add in a third fact. The dog and child who got bit, were totally unsupervised.
Dogs are social animals. Leaving an unaltered dog chained in a yard 24/7 with virtually no human contact is just setting the stage for trouble. Yet, the people who do this for the most part seem to want an aggressive dog. They want a “guard” dog. They don’t want a family pet. In the long run, though, it’s the dog(s) who pay the price. And, one sad fact – you really can’t change stupid.
Thanks again for the post!
Such an interesting discussion. The most wonderful dogs are still dogs who can yip and nip when they can’t communicate.
I was bit by a dog when I was about 5 years old. And, the scenario was: a VERY hot summer day, a neighbor’s dog (an old, large dog that I was told not to tease but I loved this dog and I loved being near it), I laid down on the grass next to him, he moved to his side we were looking face to face, I remember his tongue hanging out panting, we were nose to nose, and then POP! I jumped up and he was startled and hot and jumped on top of me. Scratched the whole top of my head. Still to this day I remember the noise of his growling and barking and our neighbor screaming –and the blood on my forehead. What happened? My mother took me to the doctor and the neighbors apologized profusely. I admit I didn’t play with the dog so much after that. But, I was taught (and reminded repeatedly) to be careful with dogs. In fact, the mom of the dog had been telling me before not to tease the dog, it was such a hot day. I did ask my sister years later if she knew if that dog was put down. She said it wasn’t (I was glad to hear that). Little kids and dogs can easily get in each other’s way. I was lucky.
BTW Maggie if you want advice about new or used car shopping, auto repair advice, etc feel free to let me know. CarNewsCafe.com has a lot of great car reviews if you are thinking new.
Wow! This is pretty shocking. It’ll be interesting to see if the reporter remains employed.