Three little words bring With three little words, the world returned to North Idaho last week. Again, it was a local situation that was blown way out of proportion. You can't blame the media. Instead, it really is only a family welfare case. Veteran editors will tell you a dog biting a man is not news.
Man biting dog, well, that's different.
Another truism is that pictures and stories of kids, dogs and old people are the key to selling newspapers, hence they go on the front page. Dozens of shelter care hearings, child welfare and custody cases fill local court dockets, not just in Sandpoint, but in Everytown, USA, every year. And the McGuckin children were not the first Bonner County youngsters to be made wards of the state because one or both parents was arrested. Unfortunately, scared children with guns who sic their half-starved dogs on the cops are news. News reporting is expensive.