Jim O'Bryan wrote:UPDATE: Dogs Not Really At Parade
That would be a correction not an update.
Update would be dog owner...
Not, it did not really happen where we shouted endlessly it was at.
amateur
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I just went online and googled "dog mauled parade Lakewood" and started counting the number of "dog mauled AT parade in Lakewood" articles there were. I stopped counting around fifteen. Not local links. National links.
This kind of "reporting" is irresponsible and damaging. "News" goes out that events in the city of Lakewood, Ohio, are unsafe, and not responsibly run: "No, Honey, remember, a dog was killed at that event last year, we're not going there. We're not taking our dog or children there." Or our own residents: "Our city doesn't know how to run events. We won't be safe there." Does that apply to Light Up Lakewood? How about our Arts festivals? There are cities whose residents walk around scaring people with aggressive pitbulls. We are not one of them, but this story certainly makes us look that way.
Changing the article's title twice didn't take away the fact that the original title, the sensational one, is the one other sources are running with, including our own Fox 8 News misrepresenting our own Lakewood Police: "A beloved family pet was mauled to death at the Spooky Pooch Parade on Saturday, Lakewood police reported..."
Lakewood Police did NOT report that a family pet was mauled to death AT the parade-- a pro-Lakewood, family-friendly event, that was well-organized and safe by all accounts, with dogs being registered and dog behavior being monitored.
I understand that the media site that did this is a nationally-run corporate project, and that it is one of a thousand similar sites that use local names and supposedly report "community news" and that their mission is to make money by monetizing community news. Then the headline makes sense, though it's not true. A dog being mauled to death AT a parade is interesting, especially at a parade of dogs in costume. Readership, hits, metrics. I have sympathy for someone running this site, it's like working for Burger King. You have to sell burgers. The corporate owners are not local, nor do they care about the community; they only care about the bottom line, but to twist or change facts to bring in viewers or hits, in a way that damages our city's reputation under the guise of being supportive to our community, is a lot worse than amateur. It's a way to blight Lakewood as a city. It's a way to discourage people from moving here, or from staying here.
Over the past weekend this same site reported: "Police search for missing 8-year-old boy."
This is terrible news. One of our children is missing? Only later was that updated to "Police search for (and Find) missing 8-year-old boy." The story, published on a Saturday morning, highlights the fact that the child "hadn't come home from school" after attending a Lakewood public school, showing the school's picture, as if our schools should be implicated in his disappearance. As if Lakewood City schools are irresponsible. Just like LakewoodAlive and the City of Lakewood with the Spooky Pooch parade.
The 8-year-old was "missing" for less than an hour. He went to a friend's house after school. I have a friend with a child in the same class. Her daughter said their teacher lectured them about making sure to call their mothers if they go to a friend's house after school.
But apparently armed police, in bullet-proof vests were "seen" by uncited sources, swarming the hallways of the school.
Great reporting. Especially before our schools are going to attempt to pass a school levy. Again the city of Lakewood is made to look terrible to outsiders and our own residents. Lakewood schools lost a child?! The schools are so dangerous armed police must search their hallways?
Every day after school in every city some of the kids stop at friends' houses, or frozen yogurt stores, or the library, signals get crossed, mothers get worried, and if it has ever happened to you, even for 15 minutes, you know that it can be very, very scary. This time this mother called the police and the child was immediately found.
We have a very safe, walkable city, with an excellent police force and excellent public schools.
The idea of a missing child is not one to take lightly, and it is not one to exaggerate or sensationalize.
But on Saturday morning you wake up to: "Police search for missing 8 year old child" along with a picture of the school he "never returned" from?
Think about it. That story was written on Saturday morning. The child was not missing at all when that title was written.
Betsy Voinovich