Girl gone missing...

[Otokogoroshi]

And would the media cover it if she were ugly? A minority? An ugly minority?

http://www.theinsider.com/news/2098140_Brittanee_Drexel_17_Missing_on_Spring_Break

Brittanee Drexel went missing during a spring break trip and as you can see from her picture:

http://media.charlotteobserver.com/smedia/2009/04/29/09/425-drexel.embedded.prod_affiliate.138.jpg

She's cute. Pretty. White and perky. All the things that the media FROTHS over. Even worse they go gaga when bad these happen to girls who fit the above description. Its sickening how they report on these cases, seeming less interested in helping find the missing girls and more on just reporting every detail with fake sincerity to pull at the public heart strings.


Its sad when anyone goes missing, male, female, regardless of race or place of origin. However it seems as if the big media will only report on it if the missing person is... pretty or cute... young and female.


Anyone else have thoughts on this?

 

[desertedcities]

Natalie Holloway (Or at least I think that was the other broad's name)...

 

[enterman]

And this is why I do not watch the news anymore. That's all you hear anymore and it's all we will ever hear.

 

[ImprobableJoe]

That's the truth. Black or Hispanic kids who go missing are barely local news... but some rich white girl goes missing and we're supposed to pretend that it is news on a national scale.

It also seems as though if the criminal is a pretty white woman, it becomes a media sensation as well. Look at the whole Casey Anthony thing in Florida. She's accused of killing her kid, and CNN covered the memorial service. Why? Why, besides all the speculation about her sex life, her family situation, and a level of weird "peeping Tom" obsession with the situation that was inappropriate on the media's part? Maybe there's also a bit of racism involved as well... as though it is "expected" for black or Hispanic women to kill their children, but it is news when a white woman does it?

 

[ebbixx]

That's the truth. Black or Hispanic kids who go missing are barely local news... but some rich white girl goes missing and we're supposed to pretend that it is news on a national scale.

To play devil's advocate, I wonder, if you looked at these "news sensation" cases whether you wouldn't find a publicist at work somewhere? Rich, white parents, after all, can better afford to hire someone to keep a story going than those with limited means.

I imagine there are many pretty, poor to lower-middle class girls who are abducted too, who also don't become network and tabloid obsessions, unless there's a really sleazy angle to the story. But without investigating how these stories become "big" stories it's really hard to say for sure, isn't it?

 

[Otokogoroshi]

Actually this girl was middle class. And in many cases the family involved isn't very rich. A little girl went missing recently from a trailer park and it was big news too. Sadly she was found in a suitcase in a river

I've heard of plenty of cases of poor to middle class families losing their daughter and the media going nuts over it. So money doesn't seem to be the factor.

 

[desertedcities]

Sadly she was found in a suitcase in a river

Pond, actually... Don't ask me how I know this.

 

[ImprobableJoe]

To play devil's advocate, I wonder, if you looked at these "news sensation" cases whether you wouldn't find a publicist at work somewhere? Rich, white parents, after all, can better afford to hire someone to keep a story going than those with limited means.

I imagine there are many pretty, poor to lower-middle class girls who are abducted too, who also don't become network and tabloid obsessions, unless there's a really sleazy angle to the story. But without investigating how these stories become "big" stories it's really hard to say for sure, isn't it?

It isn't always rich... but generally not really poor.