News Media Critique

          On September 13th, an article titled, "New York Woman Arrested After Pit Bulls Maul Man" was published on CNN's website. The article gave a lengthy and overly detailed description of an incident in which a man was attacked in the street by two pit bulls. While this is an unfortunate incident, it is not a newsworthy one. Something is newsworthy when it affects a large amount of people for a large amount of time. This incident fails to fit this criteria due to the fact that the only people affected are the victim and his family. The article uses dramatic language to blow the whole situation out of proportion, making it seem far more important than it truly is. One example of this is the use of the term "Good Samaritan" in various locations throughout the article to describe onlookers who threw things and sprayed water at the dogs.

          Another indication that this story has been overly dramaticised is the amount of repetition. It repeats the same facts multiple times to prolong the story. The article is a common example of journalists making the interesting important instead of making the important interesting. 

          

          The full article by Ray Sanchez and Lorenzo Ferrigno can be found here.