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The news media has long been criticized for being sensationalist as well as biased. One ongoing story that the media has offered their audience is a melodrama regarding the American Pit Bull Terrier (hereafter referred to as "Pit Bull"). The Pit Bull has been portrayed in the past one and a half decades as "...the archetype of canine evil, predators of the defenseless. Unpredictable companions that kill and maim without discretion. Walking horror shows bred with an appetite for violence (sic)" (Verzemnieks B6). This news coverage has had profound effects. Pit Bull ownership brings with it consequences not associated with most acquisitions. "These days, buying a Pit Bull means buying into a controversy; Pit Bull owners had better not be afraid of public opinion" (B6). In some places, Pit Bull ownership is not even allowed; in fact, ownership is banned in 75 communities in the United States (Sanchez-Beswick 1). Many insurance companies refuse to insure homeowners with Pit Bulls (V. Richardson 189). A survey done by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals found that 30% of shelters that responded do not adopt out Pit Bulls. Most of these shelters have this policy due to community bans, but others choose not to. (Schultz 36). Obviously these organizations feel that Pit Bulls are dangerous. They are, no doubt, in part influenced by media accounts. The general public also looks to the media for information to warn them of dangers that they need to avoid (De Becker 294-5). The extent to which the public has caught the wave of "Pit Bull panic" is the focus of a study that is presented in this paper.
Such a panic would be rational if, in fact, Pit Bulls were as dangerous as the media has portrayed. But is the media portrayal of Pit Bulls truly accurate? Advocates feel that Pit Bulls have been unfairly maligned by the media. As Hallum makes painfully clear, there are always two sides to every story.
Additional evidence that Pit Bulls have been unfairly demonized comes from the personal experience of the authors themselves. The authors have worked with dozens of Pit Bulls at a local animal shelter in southern New Jersey. The vast majority of these Pit Bulls have been stray...