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It's not Elizabeth Smart's fault that there is all this media attention. I think it is a variety of reasons: slow newsweek, abduction at the point of a gun, taken from her own house underneath her parents' noses, the Smarts are a prominent family in the community with ties to a former US congressman and a former US Senator. Plus the abduction met the criteria for the Rachael alert system to be used for the first time there are four criteria:

* The child is assumed kidnapped;
* The child is 15 or younger, or has a proven mental or physical disability;
* The child is in imminent danger of serious injury or death;
* There is information provided to aid the police, such as a description of the abductor, the abductor's vehicle or the child's last known location.

Other factors include that kidnappings such as these rarely take place, the family lives in an upscale neighborhood, and Elizabeth is young and pretty.

But I blame the media in part. They're the ones who choose the children they are going to highlight on their shows each evening.