Refer to specific section handle when querying an element by 'getCriteria'
You've got a couple of incorrect things going on in your current example.

Calling craft()-&gt;elements-&gt;getCriteria(ElementType::Entry) returns an ElementCriteriaModel.

That's what you want to set the parameters on for the entries you're searching for. Stuart sums it up well here.

By calling -&gt;first() on it immediately, you're going to get the defaults, which for entries is by post date in descending order.

By calling:

$entry-&gt;slug = $page;
echo $entry-&gt;title;


You are actually updating the slug for the entry that was returned to be something new.

This should work for what you're trying to do:

    $criteria = craft()-&gt;elements-&gt;getCriteria(ElementType::Entry);
    $criteria-&gt;slug = 'about';
    $criteria-&gt;section = 'news';
    $entry = $criteria-&gt;first();
    $title = $entry-&gt;title;