The Des Moines Register has published an un-ironic example of a newsroom cliché: Iowan Laine Henry (a man) bites a 50-pound Labrador retriever (a dog) to keep it from further mauling his wife, Caren Henry, who suffered severe injuries in the attack.
Question for the Des Moines Register: How do you confirm that dog was indeed bitten by man? Do we have a veterinary report here? “It was the couple,” says Senior News Director Carol Hunter, referencing the eyewitness accounts. “I know that there was a police report filed so that could have been referenced in it.”
And yes, the Des Moines Register newsroom has taken note of its J-school moment. “There has been more than one comment about it,” says Hunter.
Poynter points to other instances of this most newsworthy reversal.