An Important Post
Environmental Republican links to a story that has been gaining some momentum--from right here in our backyard.
A pregnant woman has been missing from Philadelphia after not turning up for a her shift from work. My sister and I were just talking about this yesterday.
I generally can't stand when the MSM give 24/7 coverage to these missing women and when I turn on the Today Show, Katie Couric asking the most asinine questions (What do you want (insert name here) to know?). Having said that, if you are going to cover these stories, they don't get more compelling than the Figueroa case. Its very hard for me to think of one reason that this case hasn't been getting the coverage other than the fact that she isn't the (white) girl next door.
posted by Katinula | 7:54 AM
3 Comments:
Most missing white girls don't get covered either. It is hard to say what causes a particular missing person's case to jump to national attention. It seems to be a combination of unusual circumstances and pure luck.
I don't think you need to drag the spectre of racism up to explain this though.
Compare/contrast Laci Peterson to Figueroia...not much of a difference other than the race (obviously before we knew what happened to Peterson). I definitely think it plays a part.
1000s of people go missing each year. Only a very small portion become 'news stories.' I can't say for sure, but I expect that Laci Peterson is not the only pregnant white woman to go missing in the past few years, but she is the only one we have heard about.
I don't think anyone could predict ahead of time which cases will become media stories. Certainly the family can play a big part in that, with press conferences and any resources they may have to attract attention, and a on average white families are better off economically than black families they are better able to attract this attention.
Still, as I said, the vast majority of disappearances never become news. If it hadn't been a slow news period when Laci was killed, we would have never heard of her either.
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