Posted on 06/21/2002 9:57:18 PM PDT by chance33_98
IS COVERAGE OF MISSING CHILDREN RACE-RELATED?
(06-21-2002) - Everybody has heard about the disappearance of Elizabeth Smart, the young girl who was abducted from her home in Salt Lake City, but there are outstanding cases involving African-American children that we have heard little about. Does race matter when it comes to the coverage of abducted children?
It's a tale of two missing children, 7-year-old Alexis Patterson and 14-year-old Elizabeth Smart. Both girls have been missing for weeks. Smart is seen almost daily on any newscast across the country, but Patterson receives little national attention at all.
"Every hour, it's just getting longer and longer, and I'm wondering, where's my baby at night," said Alexis' mother, Ayanna Bourgeois.
So, is race a factor when it comes to media coverage of missing children? Do Caucasian children get more media attention than African-American children?
Ernie Allen is the president of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
"A couple of news directors actually said to me, 'well this is the sort of thing that happens in urban America. You know, violence is a part of life in New York and L.A. and Houston, and Chicago and places like that.' Well, that shouldn't matter," said Allen.
Not only have the television networks shown a bias, newspapers and magazines have only had 67 stories about Patterson while there have been more than 400 stories about Smart.
Ernie Allen says the media may be one sided on this particular story because Elizabeth Smart was reportedly taken from her home at gunpoint in the middle of the night.
"It's the kind of story that terrifies parents if your kid is not safe at home, where is she safe," said Allen. "I think the more dramatic the circumstance, the dramatic the story line, media seizes on it."
According to FBI reports last year more than 840,000 missing persons were reported and almost 90 percent of those were children. Two of those children are Jahi Turner and Rilya Wilson.
Wilson was in the state's foster care system and was missing for 15 months before the Florida Department of Children And Families services reported her missing this past April.
The Rev. Al Sharpton went to Florida to help search for the baby girl. He says more national attention is needed.
"What has happened to Rilya Wilson needs to be nationalized. Where are the billboards with her picture? Where are those who would distribute the call for those that have any information leading to her whereabouts, if in fact she is closed where was she last sited?" said Sharpton.
Forty-one percent of missing children are recovered after being seen on television. Child advocates say more needs to be done so all missing children get equal time.
Home intrusions taking Danielle and the Utah girl are shocking. As for Jahi, all sorts of notoriety was present at first. It faded when it appeared (maybe) that the boyfriend had something to do with it, with his seemingly weird story about going for a soda in a park. It seemed more like "bad family situation" or "custody" issue rather than innocent taken from safety of the home.
I think if you have this ability, your case will be solved faster, because of the pressure put on investigators by the media.
He also had the help of Winona Ryder, who put up $200,000 of her own money as a reward and used her star power to draw media attention to the case (Ryder and Klaas both grew up in Petaluma, CA).
In the Smart case, I've read that their large extended family includes relations to local congressmen, law-enforcement officers, and various big names in SLC. This no doubtedly helps keep their case in the spotlight
Interesting thought PC. Another variable between the two missing girls the story keys on is age. 14 and, what is it, 7? A 14-year-old may be rebelling against parents, or involved with a boyfriend. A 7 year old is a kidnapping or murder, 95+% of the time. Tragic stats.
A lot depends on the parents. Here in my town a woman sold her child to a scaly geek for crack money. It was a huge story. I don't remember what racial group she was.I think she was Hispanic but of course Hispanics come in a wide range of races. She was a hell of a loser, whatever shade or ethnicity.
d.o.l.
Criminal Number 18F
Go check out www.missingkids.org and look at the "non-family abductions." It is so frightening just how many there are it'll make your blood run cold.
I agree, but given that white wealth is overwhelmingly more than black wealth, is not the net result the same. That is black and hispanic kids don't get the same media attention as white kids.
The media refused to help. My children were listed as missing and endangered by the court system, but the police would do very little to get the names and pictures of my children out. Finally the NCMEC profiled my children on posters, sent out to several locations based on where I thought they may be.
Still, I got no help from the media.
I designed (with the help of a newsletter owner), my own web page, and sent it out all over the country. My kids were finally found three weeks after they were taken. I had heard nothing from the father for the entire 3 weeks. It was the most horrifying time of my life, it hurt that I couldn't get any help.
I had called several news stations, newspapers, radio stations etc...
They all said they could not profile it because it could cause them to be suseptible to a lawsuit.
Just to let you know, my family is caucasian.
Just today I received a picture of a supposedly missing girl in my e-mail. Very little information given, and I am of a suspicious nature anyway.
The girl is 9 years old, white, and looks like reddish hair. Missing two weeks.
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