Media under fire for missing persons coverage. Uneven emphasis on attractive white girls criticized

[antiimperialist]

(Year 2005 article)

Most of the missing adults tracked by the FBI are men. More than one-in-five of those abducted or kidnapped are black.

But you might not get that impression from the news media, and some journalism watchdogs are now taking the industry to task for what they see as a disproportionate emphasis on cases in which white girls and women — overwhelmingly upper-middle class and attractive — disappear.

Television executives, who receive much of the criticism, defend their coverage. They stress that cases such as the recent disappearance in Aruba of 18-year-old Natalee Holloway of Alabama are extraordinary, and would be newsworthy no matter her background.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8233195/

[rurallib]

1. The other day I was listening to the news.

A story about a missing white woman came on. My wife looked at me and said "The media must be covering up something for Bush."
I believe it was the day the story about live nukes flying over the country came out.