The phrase was coined by Alfred Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe (1865–1922), a British newspaper magnate, but is also attributed to New York Sun editor John B. Bogart (1848–1921): "When a dog bites a man, that is not news, because it happens so often.
To some extent, a focus on unusual occurrences is unavoidable in journalism, as events that proceed as expected are simply not "newsworthy".
The reasoning errors caused by this phenomenon are also associated with the availability heuristic, which is the mental shortcut that relies on the immediate examples that come to mind when evaluating a specific topic.
[6] Some consider "man bites dog" stories about unusual events a sign of yellow journalism, and in the internet era, headlines about them may be phrased as click bait.
"[14] In 2012 there were at least three instances: On May 14, the Medway Messenger, a British local newspaper, ran a front page story headlined "MAN BITES DOG" about a man who survived an attack from a Staffordshire bull terrier by biting the dog back.
[18] There were at least five instances of the headline in 2014: On March 12, Rosbalt, a Russian news agency, reported that a man in Lipetsk had burnt a bed in his apartment, run around the city in his underwear, and, finally, "bit a fighting breed dog" following an hours-long online debate about the situation in Ukraine.
[21] On September 1, the Coventry Telegraph and the Daily Mirror ran an article about a man who had bitten a dog after it attacked his pet.
[22][23] And on December 17, the Cambridge News ran an article with a headline starting: "Man bites dog then dies".
"[25] In 2018 there were at least three instances: On January 25, The Hindu reported that a man bit a police dog in Houston, Texas, while trying to evade arrest.
[27] And on May 4, the Salt Lake Tribune ran an article about a man biting a police dog while being taken into custody.
[28] On July 8, 2019, the Daily Camera ran an article about a man biting a dog in a supermarket.
[29] On April 22, 2022, the Associated Press ran an article about a man who bit a police dog while officers tried to take him into custody.