No, it’s wishful thinking to think that the media would get the breed identified correctly. More like they don’t know the diff. and it never occurs that someone else might. As for the “mix” part, that’s really hard to prove....and highly doubtful the owner would know the mix himself.
No - I am not into conspiracy theories re the breed of dog. Insurance companies long ago developed special contract riders excluding specific breeds of dogs known to incur the greatest costs in damages to people. Pit bulls, and related dog breeds, are there in a dollars and cents context; the insurance companies won’t cover damages caused by those breeds (dogo argentino, presa canario,6 cane corso, tosa inu, fila brasileiro and presa mallorquin. Each of these breeds is either a pit bull derivative or was derived from ancestors similar to pit bull ancestors.) Wolf hybrids also cause disproportionate human losses (injury/death).
In the 8-year period from 2005 to 2012, pit bulls killed 151 Americans, about one citizen every 19 days. Sorry, I don’t buy the mistaken identity defense.