Missing White Woman Syndrome

.408Cheytac · #1 ● 03-05-2012, 03:16 AM

Posted By Tom Foreman, CNN Correspondent: 12:23 PM ET

Diagnosing 'Missing White Woman Syndrome'
Natalee Holloway, Lori Hacking, Laci Peterson. The list goes on and on and on.

When pretty, young women -- especially white ones -- are killed or disappear, media storms often follow. There is no polite way to say it, and it is a fact of television news. Media and social critics call the wall-to-wall coverage that seems to swirl around these events, "Missing White Woman Syndrome."

That was the phrase invoked by Sheri Parks, a professor of American studies at the University of Maryland, College Park, during our interview yesterday. The phenomenon is characterized by critics as a short and cynical equation: Pretty, white damsels in distress draw viewers; missing women who are black, Latino, Asian, old, fat, or ugly do not.

I think the critics are a lot right. And I think they are a little wrong.

People in the news business, in my professional experience of nearly 30 years, are like people in every profession. They wrestle with questions of right and wrong, fairness and accuracy, perception and reality. Some are good at it. Some aren't.

I've never, not even once, seen a story spiked because the victim was not attractive enough or the wrong race. But I've seen plenty of stories fall by the wayside, pushed down and out of the show, because a consensus develops that says, "You know, I don't think our viewers are very interested in this case."

Is that racism or realism? We can't cover every murder, but ignoring them all or reporting just statistics seems irresponsible. So how should we decide whose life or loss is covered?

Azimuth · #2 ● 03-05-2012, 05:12 AM

Nancy Grace is notorious for this. I think her show is called "The Attractive White Missing Child Hour" or something, on certain tv snarking forums around the web. Hate that bitch.

xstunt1ngx · #3 ● 03-05-2012, 05:14 AM

So true, they barely report missing black/latino/asian kids or women, maybe like a 10 second thing and thats it, but when it's a white person they get a fucking 1 hour special, ridiculous.

Blewvane · #4 ● 03-05-2012, 05:58 AM

Black women are ugly and smoke crack.

Azimuth · #5 ● 03-05-2012, 06:12 AM

That was a good show you shared there. I just finished watching the whole thing. I can't imagine. Those poor parents, first losing a child in such a way and then nine years to bring the killer to justice.

Dynamo47 · #6 ● 03-05-2012, 07:27 AM

I don't think it's racist so much as its the media giving the public what they want. To the general public a pretty white girl gone missing is appealing and generates ratings.