Any report or study derived from a survey of news stories can never represent the dog population at large, or provide a basis to analyze the nature and (in)frequency of canine aggression.

News outlets are in the business of reporting singular events. Statistical validity is not their job. They do not select stories for publication on the basis of random sampling techniques. Editors promote stories they believe to be of interest to their audience. Most incidents involving dogs, good, bad, or indifferent, are not reported at all. Severe attacks by dogs are, happily, exceedingly rare.

For the stories they do choose to cover, based upon their own estimate of its newsworthiness, journalists have no control over how their reporting will be used – or misused -- by others.

Reporters are not specialists. They may report as fact what are really opinions, or cite official statements and/or published studies that experts have called into serious question. Stories completed against deadline pressures may contain errors that the outlet will only correct if later developments generate an interest in a follow up. Reporters will neglect critical factors that contributed to a serious incident involving a dog and assign unjustified significance to a dog's breed description, while, at the same time printing inaccurate breed identification of dogs which are never corrected later.

Use the links below to learn more about the limitations of news accounts regarding incidents involving dogs:

Deadlines: Stories are written before incident can be properly investigated

How deadlines can result in publication of inaccurate information.

Limited or no fact checking: Quoting data from unreliable sources, no reference checks.

How limited or no fact checking perpetuates myths as facts.

Audience interest: Stories about dog bite-related injuries published to appeal to viewers/readers.

How reader interest affects coverage of dog bite stories.

Frequently, news stories report that a dog involved in an incident is a "family dog" where "resident dog" is a more accurate description. The distinction between a "family dog" and a "resident dog" is an important one. Click here to learn more about this distinction.