The line appears by 1899 with no author named: a fictional old reporter says it in Jesse Lynch Williams’s The Stolen Story and Other Newspaper Stories, and a school paper tells it about an unnamed editor. It was first pinned on Charles A. Dana in 1902, after his death in 1897. Quote Investigator ↗ finds no solid evidence that Dana or any other named editor coined it.
“'Dog Bites a Man' Is Not News. 'Man Bites a Dog' Is News” anonymous newsroom saying, in print by 1899 (Jesse Lynch Williams, The Stolen Story and Other Newspaper Stories); first credited to Charles A. Dana in 1902, after his death in 1897. Via Quotle.info · Verbatim: “'A dog bites a man'—that's a story; 'A man bites a dog'—that's a good story.”
Can you use it?
? We couldn’t verify where this wording comes from, so there’s no rights status to give. Safe to present as an unverified or anonymous line — just don’t assert a specific author or source.
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In context
Evoking the themes of truth and knowledge. Theme: "'Dog Bites a Man' Is Not News. 'Man Bites a Dog' Is News". Atmospheric and restrained, cinematic directional light, a muted period-appropriate palette, fine grain and texture. Compose with generous empty space for the quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.
Minimalist
Minimalist editorial slide for the quote "'Dog Bites a Man' Is Not News. 'Man Bites a Dog' Is News". Clean background, a single muted accent color, generous negative space, subtle paper or linen texture, no literal illustration — let the words carry it. Reserve clear space for a serif quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.
Provenance
The earliest version Quote Investigator found
Book
The Stolen Story and Other Newspaper Stories
Author
Jesse Lynch Williams (the line is spoken by his fictional reporter Billy Woods)
Published
Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1899 — chapter “The Old Reporter,” p. 223
“You’ll soon assimilate the idea. Now, for instance, ‘A dog bites a man’—that’s a story; ‘A man bites a dog’—that’s a good story,” etc.
1899
No author is named for the maxim itself. Quote Investigator thinks Williams was probably repeating a saying already going around newsrooms, not making it up. The popular two-sentence wording on this page is a later, tidier form.
1899: A fictional old reporter in Jesse Lynch Williams’s The Stolen Story says “‘A dog bites a man’—that’s a story; ‘A man bites a dog’—that’s a good story.” (1899 scan ↗)
February 1899: An Indianapolis school paper tells of Richard Harding Davis asking “an editor” what news is, and gives a man-bites-dog answer. No editor is named. (Barry Popik ↗)
1902: The line is credited to “the great Dana” in The Inlander (June). The Omaha Daily Bee (August 3) reprints a Buffalo Commercial item in which Davis puts the question to Dana himself. (Quote Investigator ↗)
1918: Frank M. O’Brien’s The Story of the Sun gives the line to Sun city editor John B. Bogart: “When a dog bites a man, that is not news, because it happens so often.” (1918 scan ↗)
The popular two-sentence wording has no single identifiable source, so no rights status is asserted for it. The early documented versions quoted here (Williams’s 1899 book, the 1902 newspaper items and O’Brien’s 1918 book) were all first published before 1931 and are in the U.S. public domain.
Rights status is our research, not legal advice — and copyright varies by country and edition. For commercial or published use, confirm with the rightsholder. See terms.
Fact-check
Why so many editors get the credit
Over the decades the same maxim has been hung on at least six newspapermen. Quote Investigator ↗ finds that each credit appears late or second-hand.
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Most commonCharles A. Dana First named, after his death
He is the earliest named source, but the credits start in 1902 items, after his death in 1897. Earlier versions name no one, and none comes from his own writings. (QI ↗)
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Reference booksJohn B. Bogart 1918 credit
Frank M. O’Brien’s 1918 The Story of the Sun credits the Sun city editor, describing him as one “who absorbed the Dana idea of news.” That is the source behind Bogart entries in modern quotation books. (1918 scan ↗)
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Newspaper columnsAmos Cummings 1921 credit
Arthur Brisbane named Cummings, another Sun man, in a 1921 column. Back in 1912 Brisbane had used the same line without naming anyone. (QI ↗)
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One editorialHorace Greeley 1909 credit
A 1909 Denver Post editorial put the words in Greeley’s mouth. QI rates this as late and second-hand. (QI ↗)
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British pressLord Northcliffe (Alfred Harmsworth) Repeated it
A 1922 Boston Globe column said a London journalist had heard Northcliffe give a definition of news that was “nothing but the familiar saying” credited to various American editors. (QI ↗)
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Later driftJoseph Pulitzer By 1934
By 1934 a Georgia paper noted that the saying had been credited to both Pulitzer and Northcliffe. (QI ↗)
✓The maxim was in print by 1899 with no author named. The earliest credits to Dana that researchers have found date from 1902, after his death in 1897. Quote Investigator concludes that the evidence for every named candidate is weak. (Quote Investigator ↗)
Context
How an anonymous anecdote got a famous name
In the earliest versions, the man-bites-dog definition of news is an anecdote with no name attached. In the February 1899 school-paper telling that Barry Popik ↗ records, a young Richard Harding Davis puts the question to “an editor.” By August 1902 the Omaha Daily Bee was telling the same Davis story with Charles A. Dana as the editor who answered.
That is the usual path for a newsroom joke: it fastens onto the most famous editor associated with the paper it is told about. O’Brien’s 1918 history of the Sun gave it to city editor John B. Bogart instead, and later writers spread the credit to Cummings, Greeley, Northcliffe and Pulitzer.
“The Sun always waited for the man to bite the dog.” — Frank M. O’Brien, 1918
What O’Brien offered as Dana’s own definition of news
Straight after the Bogart anecdote, O’Brien’s The Story of the Sun ↗ prints what it calls “Mr. Dana’s own definition of news.” The passage defines news as “everything that occurs, everything which is of human interest” and closes: “whatever the divine Providence permitted to occur I was not too proud to report.” It contains no dog.
Explore
Filed under
More provenance-checked quotes on the same theme, each with its reuse status.
Charles Anderson Dana was Horace Greeley’s managing editor at the New-York Tribune and served as Assistant Secretary of War during the Civil War. In 1868 he became editor and part-owner of The New York Sun, whose brisk, story-driven news style made it famous among reporters. That reputation probably explains why a newsroom maxim about what counts as news attached itself to his name after he died.
For writers & researchers
Cite this
Earliest version located by Quote Investigator
Jesse Lynch Williams, “The Old Reporter,” in The Stolen Story and Other Newspaper Stories (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1899), 223. First credited to Charles A. Dana in 1902 newspaper and magazine items; see Garson O’Toole, “Quote Origin: ‘Dog Bites a Man’ Is Not News,” Quote Investigator, November 22, 2013.
This verification page
Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘'Dog Bites a Man' Is Not News. 'Man Bites a Dog' Is News’?” Last verified 1 Nov 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/dog-bites-a-man-is-not-news-man-bites-a-dog-is-news/