Wednesday, October 17, 2012

The Big Story: I Rescued A Dog!

An Ohio news anchor found a stray dog outside the station, and she rescued it.

Is that news?

Don't people find and rescue dogs every day? Isn't she essentially calling herself a hero?

Or, is this a positive way to connect with the community? Isn't she just helping an animal in need?

What do you think?

18 comments:

kevin troilo said...

I think anything that people will listen to can be considered "news", so it depends who you ask to some extent. If you asked me whether I consider it news, I'd tell you no, but other people would disagree. I believe it's just relaying a story about someone being a good person to a lost animal.

Emily Huber said...

I agree with Kevin, I would not consider this news, per say. But I don't think the anchor is calling herself a hero. This act is her (and the station's, I'm sure) way of reaching out to the community. It's a simply act of kindness, and since the dog is unidentified, putting her on television could be a quick way to help get her back to her owners. I am ok with this being a short segment of the program!

Aja Espinosa said...

This story can be considered news but really it shouldn't be broadcasted or written about. It really isn't an unusual occurrence for a dog to be rescued. I work at a vet and it basically happens every week. It's good that the dog got rescued but I just think this person wants attention. Real animal lovers rescue animals for the animal not so they can be on the news.

David Cornfield said...

I think that it is definitely regional news, and would open up adoption for the animal which makes it happy news and I think it's a story that viewers will like to see. It is great from a PR standpoint for the station as well.

Susan Dong said...

Eh, I mean it could fit under the human interest category right? People like dogs and well, awesome, someone rescued a dog so it's news. To what degree of importance is the news is another question but it wasn't a long story about her finding a dog so in my opinion, I think it's appropriate. Also, I agree with Emily Huber that this could be a good way to get the dog back to its owner. On that note, it might also fit into the proximity category.

Mark Valeriano said...

I think that if the news is kind of slow then this could be a good fill in story. This is a really good way to connect with the community on a more personal level because people do really care about this kind of stuff and it might help to keep regular viewers or to attract new ones!!

Zoƫ Dean said...

Slow news day anyone? Other than the fact she was drawing attention to herself, doing something people do daily, I didn't get the news anchor-calling-herself-a-hero-vibe...I guess the video implied that a little. The story just didn't really fit "newsworthy" criteria. Stray animals certainly need and deserve attention, and if you are in a position to advocate pet adoption to a mass audience, you should, (or in this case, potentially reach out to the owner of a lost animal) but I would have imagined the anchor directing viewers to the website to address it, instead of dedicating a whole segment. (Seeming as though they are restricted in terms of how many news stories they can fit into a broadcast.) It's definitely an attempt to connect with community rather than report the news. Indicative of how the role of (broadcast) news is changing, I guess?

Ed B said...

Personally, I rather listen to this story than Lindsey Lohan any day. Stories about a topic that is close to most of us (dog owners) can be considered a human interest story. Why not?

As long as this piece is not "top news", and no one got shot in Philly in the last few weeks.

Meredith Thomas said...

I think this is news to some extent. Although people rescue animals everyday, the news anchor used the advantage of public television in reaching out to find the home of the dog. I don't think that she was trying to label herself as some sort of "hero," but instead, sharing with the audience that the dog was found and she would like to return him to his rightful owner.

Stephen Sklarow said...

I would consider this a good news story for a nice filler. She shouldn't be called a hero but the fact that she took the time to help the little guy definitely makes a good story for the community and human interest. Most people love dogs therefore the average person would find this a cute little story.

Stephanie Cummings said...

I would not consider this news. Yes, the news anchor did do a good thing for the animal, but the public probably wont care about what she did. Also, anchors should not talking about themselves on television. I do not think it is very professional.

Chelsea Finn said...

I think a lot of it is just on personal opinion and interest but I think it's a good idea to have a story like this every once in a while because it's a "happy" story that will bring together the community.

-Chelsea Finn

Andrew Sifari said...

It's great that she helped the dog, but even if she wasn't an anchor, I don't feel like would be a story anyway, not when people rescue dogs often, and get little-to-no recognition for it. I also have no idea how, considering the gauntlet of 'stories' aired on tv on a nightly basis (at LEAST 20 in less than an hour's time) how it could get slow enough for this to air.

Kevin Soboloski said...

I don't think it's a question whether it is news or not. It is just a question whether it is good or bad news. With the question, "don't people find and rescue dogs every days?" There are fires every day that aren't reported on, so I think that makes that argument obsolete. To me it just seems like she couldn't find a story so just went outside and found a dog, which is obviously not true, but the simplicity behind it makes it a lame story.

Moumita Ghosh said...

I think it is news only because putting the dog on television can help to identify her owner since the news anchor did not know who the dog belonged to. But I also think that the news anchor wants attention and is trying to call herself a hero by showing how she rescued the dog. There are so many other people out there who rescue dogs all the time, and it is not on the news everytime they rescue a dog! It is more important to actually rescue the dog and do something good, rather than broadcasting it on the news.

Robert Arciero said...

I believe it was made into a bigger news story just because she was an anchor. If this was a regular person outside the news station who rescued and found the dog, I do not even think they would have paid attention to the situation. It was a great gesture of helping the dog, but in mu opinion not news

Tsega Tesfaye said...

It was nice of her to do this good deed but I don't think it's newsworthy. It's not an unusual story, it happens all the time. I agree with Robert. Since she has the title of a news Anchor she was given a chance to be apart of a news story.

Patricia Madej said...

Though I agree that a plug in about a lost dog is good for the community in hopes that they will find the owner, I don’t believe that the newscasters approached this story appropriately. At almost a minute long, images of the reporter picking up the dog and telling viewers that it was fed “homemade chicken” is a little ridiculous. All they needed was a short picture or video of the dog at the end of the broadcast. However, I understand that this could have been used up just to fill a slow news day, but that’s another issue in itself.