Missing/Kidnapped Women--Is this a new thing?

[albionmoonlight]

Is it me, or are the national media spending more and more time making national stories out of pretty white women who get kidnapped/are missing. Elizabeth Smart, Jennifer Wilbanks (before she became the runaway bride), this new blond girl from Alabama.

I feel horrible for the families in these cases. But there are people who go missing every day. People die every day. Horrible things happen to people every day. What makes the these stories worthy of dominating the CNN.com front page for weeks at a time?

Of course, they would not put it out if we didn't consume it. But even that confuses me. Sure, we all like looking at pretty white girls, but are we really clicking like mad to see what's the next development in the [random person we had no idea existed until yesterday] story is? Why?

[rkmsuf]

Because the teacher sleeping with student market has slowed.

[Crapshoot]

Seriously, its getting on my nerves. One chick is missing after partying in Aruba, while there is real news going on - cnn and its ilk are busy covering it like there's no tomorrow. I wish there was a news service similar to the bbc here.

[Raiders Army]

Better than Michael Jackson trial coverage.

[JPhillips]

(say the following as if James Earl Jones)

This is CNN.
LOOK, a missing white woman!

[BigJohn&TheLions]

This was brought up yesterday on the talk show I work on. Except it was phrased a little different... There it became "Why is it all these sweet young white women are being raped and killed by black men?" Mind you, this is also a show where, when talking about the South African man who was ripped apart while stowing away in the wheelwell of a plane, the host made the comment "I wish they'd all get in the wheelwell of a plane!"

As far as the media attention, it is about the same as that cute little white girl from West Virginia who turned into Rambo (according to the media) before being captured. Her less camera friendly, black fellow soldier got a passing mention.

That being said, I doubt if several of these missing cute-blonde girls had bad acne and an extra 60 lbs that they would get half the attention they are receiving...

What I really want to know is why Lindy's Sports Annuals seem to every year have their "sidelines" cheerleader photo spread featuring about 20 blondes, three brunettes, and one very light-skinned black woman. The issues really don't need them anyway, but if ou're gonna have them, why are they all blondes??? (I'm not into blondes by the way)

[Raiders Army]

This was brought up yesterday on the talk show I work on.

Soooooo....is the host racist or what?

[BigJohn&TheLions]

Soooooo....is the host racist or what?

He has been accused of that before...

Personally, he's a decent enough guy, and if it wasn't for his ignorance on racial matters I would say he's a nice guy. He used to try and plant the seeds of racial hatred in me, by saying things like "You ever notice that us white guys can't get ahead in this world anymore? Look at the TV, every damn newscaster you see is a black woman! I guess all you have to do to make it anymore is to be black!"

He stopped all of that for some reason around the time I brought by daughter in to work. Let's just say she's an "off-white!"

Another time my (now former) girlfriend came to visit during the show. I made a point of giving her a little kiss when he was on the air and looking thru the glass. Her complexion? Let's just say she failed the brown paper bag test! She asked me if I was trying to give him a stroke on the air.

Like I said, as far as he goes he's a nice enough guy, with issues. I hate ignorance. I never understood racism, never will.

[QuikSand]

Soooooo....is the host racist or what?

Personally, he's a decent enough guy, and if it wasn't for his ignorance on racial matters I would say he's a nice guy. He used to try and plant the seeds of racial hatred in me, by saying things like "You ever notice that us white guys can't get ahead in this world anymore? Look at the TV, every damn newscaster you see is a black woman! I guess all you have to do to make it anymore is to be black!" etc etc etc

Yes.

Edited down for you.

[Kodos]

If there was a news station that never covered the OJ Simpson, Michael Jackson, Runaway Bride, JonBenet stories, I would be all over it.

[QuikSand]

If there was a news station that never covered the OJ Simpson, Michael Jackson, Runaway Bride, JonBenet stories, I would be all over it.

I was just thinking about this myself. I want to say that I'd support such a network, but to be candid -- I have basically given up on television as a medium for news. I watch Meet the Press most weeks, and a weekly wrapup show on Maryland state politics, but if I watch one hour of TV news in a month, it's a rarity.

I wonder how widespread that is -- perhaps the more discerning viewers, the ones who might be the correct demographic for a more highbrow approach to news, have essentially left television for other media? Maybe what we're seeing is the media equivalent of "white flight?" Taken to logical extreme: the only people left watching the TV news are idiots, so give them what they deserve.

[gottimd]

In response to the title thread, no it's not, missing people and kidnappings have been going on for centuries.

[Buzzbee]

IMO the reason that the 'missing or kidnapped' stories are so prevalent these days is because of the immediacy and availability of news these days. Think about it. Ten or fifteen years ago you got your news at 6:00 when you got home from work, or in the morning when you read your paper over a cup of coffee. Now you get 'breaking news' while you are working on a spreadsheet, writing code, or reading the afternoon's baseball action. You get stock quotes on your cell phone or blackberry.

Also, you had ABC, NBC, and CBS as your news source. Now you have those, plus FOX, CNN and numerous local newspaper websites or radio station websites as an option to get your news. There is greater competition for the 'scoop'. In addition the media can take a missing woman or a kidnapped child and sensationalize it and bring about a sense of urgency which helps drive ratings.

Also, I think the urgency and immediacy of those situations lend themselves very well to todays media. The sooner a notice is sent out (especially when a child is involved) the greater the sense that something horrible can be prevented. The media gets to 'raise the alarm' while benefitting from the increased ratings.

Just my $0.02

[rkmsuf]

IMO the reason that the 'missing or kidnapped' stories are so prevalent these days is because of the immediacy and availability of news these days. Think about it. Ten or fifteen years ago you got your news at 6:00 when you got home from work, or in the morning when you read your paper over a cup of coffee. Now you get 'breaking news' while you are working on a spreadsheet, writing code, or reading the afternoon's baseball action. You get stock quotes on your cell phone or blackberry.

Also, you had ABC, NBC, and CBS as your news source. Now you have those, plus FOX, CNN and numerous local newspaper websites or radio station websites as an option to get your news. There is greater competition for the 'scoop'. In addition the media can take a missing woman or a kidnapped child and sensationalize it and bring about a sense of urgency which helps drive ratings.

Also, I think the urgency and immediacy of those situations lend themselves very well to todays media. The sooner a notice is sent out (especially when a child is involved) the greater the sense that something horrible can be prevented. The media gets to 'raise the alarm' while benefitting from the increased ratings.

Just my $0.02

But it's on every night's main broadcast and every mornings main broadcast.

"Here's an update...we haven't found her yet but let's rehash the whole story over and over again."

[Buzzbee]

Kinda difficult to say "Oh no!! We have a missing child. Be on the lookout for ______" and then the next morning follow up with "and in other news, the kid we made such a huge deal about yesterday still hasn't been found and is most likely dead. Now the weather."

[JPhillips]

Buzzbee: Clearly it sells, or at least network execs believe it sells. If the American public decided to turn the channel every time these stories came on they'd go away. However, I still believe that the news organizations have some culpability in choosing to publicize many more cute, white girl stories than ugly and/or ethnic girl stories.

[Buzzbee]

Buzzbee: Clearly it sells, or at least network execs believe it sells. If the American public decided to turn the channel every time these stories came on they'd go away. However, I still believe that the news organizations have some culpability in choosing to publicize many more cute, white girl stories than ugly and/or ethnic girl stories.
That raises a curious question. HOW do these stories become newsworthy? Surely there are missing children and 'runaway brides' nearly every week in this country. Why do we only hear about certain ones? My thinking is that someone has to contact the media and let them know that there is something newsworthy. Is it at that point where the media decides that the 'cute white girl' story gets run while the 'fat, ugly black woman' story gets set aside?

Or can it be traced further back to the people actually contacting the media? Are wealthy white folk more believeable than the the black lady with five kids who lives in the projects? Is it racially or economically driven?

Just posing some questions.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Buzzbee -- EVERYTHING is economically driven, but not quite as simply as it might sound

These sort of stories become newsworthy because people, in significant number, eat them up. Look no further than Nancy Grace (which my wife now watches regularly, to my dismay) to see how much interest there is in this isolated trial or that isolated trial.

Only hearing about certain ones is a combination of factors -- timing, more than anything other single thing. The fact that we know Tawana Brawley (sp?) by name at all is a great example of that. Disappear when the other news is slow, people will know but disappear when there's a lot of things happening, odds are you're buried on page 17 of the newspaper.

Certainly being media savvy plays a part too, as you mentioned. And that often comes with a relationship to education level, which also skews white. More often than you'd think, the victim's family & the media are basically using each other for their own purposes.

But while the media cooperates has a racial component on the surface, but its really an economic component when you drill down further. People are more prone to be interested in "like" than "unlike", that's human nature. And the most desirable viewers are wealthier viewers, varying by demographic depending upon your product. And there are more wealthy white viewers than wealthy viewers of color. So, it's a matter of economics that "cute white girl" is more appealing as a story than "fat ugly black woman".

[JPhillips]

A nice column inn the Wash POst on the damstrel in distress rage.

(White) Women We Love

By Eugene Robinson

Friday, June 10, 2005; Page A23

Someday historians will look back at America in the decade bracketing the turn of the 21st century and identify the era's major themes: Religious fundamentalism. Terrorism. War in Iraq. Economic dislocation. Bioengineering. Information technology. Nuclear proliferation. Globalization. The rise of superpower China.

And, of course, Damsels in Distress.

Every few weeks, this stressed-out nation with more problems to worry about than hours in the day finds time to become obsessed with the saga -- it's always a "saga," never just a story -- of a damsel in distress. Natalee Holloway, the student who disappeared while on a class trip to the Caribbean island of Aruba, is the latest in what seems an endless series.

Holloway assumed the mantle from her predecessor, the Runaway Bride, who turned out not to have been in distress at all -- not physical distress, at least, though it's obvious that the prospect of her impending 600-guest wedding caused Jennifer Wilbanks an understandable measure of mental trauma.

Before the Runaway Bride, there were too many damsels to provide a full list, but surely you remember the damsel elite: Laci Peterson. Elizabeth Smart. Lori Hacking. Chandra Levy. JonBenet Ramsey. We even found, or created, a damsel amid the chaos of war in Iraq: Jessica Lynch.

The specifics of the story line vary from damsel to damsel. In some cases, the saga begins with the discovery of a corpse. In other cases, the damsel simply vanishes into thin air. Often, there is a suspect from the beginning -- an intruder, a husband, a father, a congressman, a stranger glimpsed lurking nearby.

Sometimes the tale ends well, or well enough, as in the cases of Smart and Lynch. Let's hope it ends well for Holloway. But more often, it ends badly. Once in a great while, a case like Runaway Bride comes along to provide comic relief.

But of course the damsels have much in common besides being female. You probably have some idea of where I'm headed here.

A damsel must be white. This requirement is nonnegotiable. It helps if her frame is of dimensions that breathless cable television reporters can credibly describe as "petite," and it also helps if she's the kind of woman who wouldn't really mind being called "petite," a woman with a good deal of princess in her personality. She must be attractive -- also nonnegotiable. Her economic status should be middle class or higher, but an exception can be made in the case of wartime (see: Lynch).

Put all this together, and you get 24-7 coverage. The disappearance of a man, or of a woman of color, can generate a brief flurry, but never the full damsel treatment. Since the Holloway story broke we've had more news reports from Aruba this past week, I'd wager, than in the preceding 10 years.

I have no idea whether the late French philosopher Jacques Derrida hung on every twist and turn of the Chandra Levy case; somehow, I doubt he did. But I suspect the apostle of "deconstructionism" would have analyzed the damsel-in-distress phenomenon by explaining that our society is imposing its own subconsciously chosen narrative on all these cases.

It's the meta-narrative of something seen as precious and delicate being snatched away, defiled, destroyed by evil forces that lurk in the shadows, just outside the bedroom window. It's whiteness under siege. It's innocence and optimism crushed by cruel reality. It's a flower smashed by a rock.

Or maybe (since Derrida believed in multiple readings of a single text) the damsel thing is just a guaranteed cure for a slow news day. The cable news channels, after all, have lots of airtime to fill.

This is not to mock any one of these cases (except Runaway Bride) or to diminish the genuine tragedy experienced by family and friends. I can imagine the helplessness I'd feel if a child of mine disappeared from a remote beach in the Caribbean. But I can also be fairly confident that neither of my sons would provoke so many headlines.

Whatever our ultimate reason for singling out these few unfortunate victims, among the thousands of Americans who are murdered or who vanish each year, the pattern of choosing only young, white, middle-class women for the full damsel treatment says a lot about a nation that likes to believe it has consigned race and class to irrelevance.

What it says is that we haven't. What it says is that those stubborn issues are still very much alive and that they remain at the heart of the nation's deepest fears.

[HomerJSimpson]

But while the media cooperates has a racial component on the surface, but its really an economic component when you drill down further. People are more prone to be interested in "like" than "unlike", that's human nature. And the most desirable viewers are wealthier viewers, varying by demographic depending upon your product. And there are more wealthy white viewers than wealthy viewers of color. So, it's a matter of economics that "cute white girl" is more appealing as a story than "fat ugly black woman".

Which is sad, because fat, ugly black women are generally better people as a whole than rich, pretty white women. If this was "values clarification" class, and I could only save one from drowning, I'd save the fat, black woman over the rich, white woman, because the first probably has more to offer society than the last. (Of course, I say that because I'm married. If I were single, I might change my mind less for the good of society, and more for me to have a shot at a rich, white woman who is very gratefull to me. Hmmmm...."Dear Penthouse forum...")

[Maple Leafs]

Don't forget, there needs to be a sexual component too. It helps if we can infer that the woman may have had an affair. If she's single, we'd like to be able to mention that she was last seen sneaking off to a deserted beach with two guys -- wink, nudge.

[MJ4H]

Which is sad, because fat, ugly black women are generally better people as a whole than rich, pretty white women. If this was "values clarification" class, and I could only save one from drowning, I'd save the fat, black woman over the rich, white woman, because the first probably has more to offer society than the last.
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what the

[Klinglerware]

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what the

Well, as a resident of Fairfield County, CT; while I don't condone Homer's statement, I certainly can understand where he is coming from...

[Dutch]

Sadly, none of these stories stack up to Black Dahlia. What a great crime story that was and I'm assuming the crime press is hoping for with every one of these.

[Galaxy]

Is it me, or are the national media spending more and more time making national stories out of pretty white women who get kidnapped/are missing. Elizabeth Smart, Jennifer Wilbanks (before she became the runaway bride), this new blond girl from Alabama.



Jennifer Wilbanks is pretty? :eek:

[Ragone]

Which is sad, because fat, ugly black women are generally better people as a whole than rich, pretty white women. If this was "values clarification" class, and I could only save one from drowning, I'd save the fat, black woman over the rich, white woman, because the first probably has more to offer society than the last.


Thats quite a prejudice statement right there .. generalizations are not your friend :)

[CraigSca]

I don't think these are cases of overt racism. Like someone mentioned earlier in the thread, people are intrigued when something bad happens to a person "like" them. The fact is, the majority of Americans are considered "white". As the author suggests, when evil lurks right outside our window and takes what is considered to be "innocence and optimism" we are outraged/interested.

As for Homer's statement, I'm absolutely dumbfounded. Clearly, all people have value and to quantify them by race and color (in either direction) is ridiculous.

[Glengoyne]

I somehow avoided the runaway bride story, even the thread here. I actually figured it had been threadjacked because of its length.

I think the thing that makes the Aruba story big is like mentioned above the "sex" factor. This pretty young thing runs of to an Island paradise for a few romps on the beach, and ends up missing presumed dead. Hell I even read the article on Fox or MSNBC, which I can't say I did for the Runaway Bride story.

[stevew]

Which is sad, because fat, ugly black women are generally better people as a whole than rich, pretty white women. If this was "values clarification" class, and I could only save one from drowning, I'd save the fat, black woman over the rich, white woman, because the first probably has more to offer society than the last. (Of course, I say that because I'm married. If I were single, I might change my mind less for the good of society, and more for me to have a shot at a rich, white woman who is very gratefull to me. Hmmmm...."Dear Penthouse forum...")


Huh?

[JonInMiddleGA]

I actually kinda get (I think) where HJS is coming from, and I can at least see where that sort of conclusion isn't as radical as it appears.

I take it as a slam at what I call "Debbie Dunwoody" types (Dunwoody is an affluent Atlanta suburb, with a higher than average number of tennis dresses per capita, your geographical reference will likely vary) ... and I have pretty low tolerance for those vapid creatures myself. You might think of them as the "Junior League crowd".

[Bubba Wheels]

People get intriqued with a mystery. The fact that she was romantically linked with the son of a prominent justice official on the island, that the son has been caught lying about his first official statement, that she herself seems to have had something of a dual personality (church-going straight A student at home; sex, drugs and rock and roll on vacation.) All these things add to the fascination.

[Axxon]

Maybe it's not so much on the media's end of things. Come on, most of the sell in these stories is the sexual angle. People aren't pondering if she has run away but was she kidnapped, raped, murdered.

America devours sexual serial killer stories and these cases all start out as potential SSK stories. Now, it truly saddens but let's look at the truth:

Most sexual serial killers prefer petite, pretty females to ugly fat ones.

Let's also not forget that the fat ones could potentially offer more resistance and the logistics of conceilment and eventual disposal would be much more problematic.

No, fat ugly women aren't going to be the preferred victims more often than not.

Now, we all harp on race but let's not. Let's look at vulnerability for a bit because the killer will. Obviously prostitues rank high on the vulnerability scale since they take huge risks on their jobs and aren't usually missed as quickly so they get targetted a lot. Sadly, however, nobody really gives a crap about them, race and look aside so there's no story there until the police have given us a serial killer and then we hear about them.

Next though, we have the money issue which is not white or black inherently. Most of our victims we hear about are as was said, fairly well off. These are not the type of women who have to deal with the day to day reality of crime like a women with less means would. She doesn't live next door to crackheads, rapists, thieves etc or at least not openly.

Her mind doesn't instantly think, "lock the car door" the minute she steps into it. She doesn't scrutinize the guy who happened to detour into her building after she just entered etc. It's not part of her daily routine. Catch her thinking about next weeks tennis game at the country club and the predators job is much easier.

So, in short, lets not be too overly harsh on the media. Let's put a great bit of blame on the serial killers. If they were more socially conscious we'd have far more diverse damsel in distress stories than we do now but until that day comes, I'm predicting that we'll continue to hear more about petite pretty rich white women coming up missing than fat poor ugly minorities.

I'm just saying.

[HomerJSimpson]

As for Homer's statement, I'm absolutely dumbfounded. Clearly, all people have value and to quantify them by race and color (in either direction) is ridiculous.

It's a joke, dude. I've always thought "values clarification" crap was stupid, and of course "all people have value." Lighten up.

[HomerJSimpson]

I actually kinda get (I think) where HJS is coming from, and I can at least see where that sort of conclusion isn't as radical as it appears.

I take it as a slam at what I call "Debbie Dunwoody" types (Dunwoody is an affluent Atlanta suburb, with a higher than average number of tennis dresses per capita, your geographical reference will likely vary) ... and I have pretty low tolerance for those vapid creatures myself. You might think of them as the "Junior League crowd".


Yup. Spot on.

[CraigSca]

Yup. Spot on.
Wait...it's a joke and now it's "spot on"? This duplicity makes no sense to me. That's okay though, I don't feel like getting into this.

[stevew]

Hmmm. HA's initial impression may have been right.

[HomerJSimpson]

Wait...it's a joke and now it's "spot on"? This duplicity makes no sense to me. That's okay though, I don't feel like getting into this.


Really that confusing? It was a joke, but aimed at the mark he suggested. Maybe I can draw a diagram....

[HomerJSimpson]

Hmmm. HA's initial impression may have been right.


I love you, too.

[CHEMICAL SOLDIER]

As for Natalee Holloway I hope that she is found and if not alive then her remains be found and given a proper burial so the family can have closure.

[MrBigglesworth]

NBC, CNN announce merger

June 11 (Bloomberg) — In a surprise move expected to send shockwaves through the world of TV journalism, CNN, the orginal cable news network, and NBC, which owns cable channels MSNBC and CNBC, announced a deal to consolidate their news organizations into a single giant news network. By pooling their journalistic resources, the organizations will be able to offer deeper coverage of the most important stories of the day, and will be better equipped to complete with current cable news champion FOX News. The new network - to be called Where the White Women At?, or WWWA - is set to debut this week.

At CNN President Jonathan Klein explained the deal at a press conference on Saturday. “For most of history, journalists could afford to spend their time covering wars, famines, politics, and business. The reason for this is that everybody knew where the white women were at - at home, probably in the kitchen, minding the kids. Sure, sometimes they were out shopping, or knitting at a friend’s house, or even working as an elementary school teacher, but, by and large, the location and status of all white women was known.

“However, society has changed, and the business of journalism has changed with it. These days, with the increased opportunities available to white women, we as a nation are losing track of even the prettiest white women. White women are dissappearing in Aruba, from their jobs as Washington interns, and even right before their own weddings. And while we do our best to give the public all the necessary information about missing white women, the job is just too large for any one cable network to handle.

“And it is not just the number of white women who are going missing that is the problem. There are also white women who aren’t missing, but whose location and situation demands public attention. There are white women on trial for drowning their kids, white women who are dead but nobody knows who killed them, and even some white women who are on spring break and drunkenly flashing their breasts. Clearly, the sheer volume of white women stories is beyond anything journalists have ever had to deal with before.

But even when we restrict our coverage to only the prettiest white women, the coverage is often superficial and redundant. Really: does the public need to hear interviews with Jennifer Wilbanks’ bridesmaids on MSNBC, CNN, and CNBC? Of course not. The public should be able to hear interviews with Jennifer Wilbanks’ bridesmaids on MSNBC, interviews with her coworkers on CNN, and commentary by experts in the field of missing white women on CNBC. However, today, the fragmented nature of the cable news business makes such in-depth coverage impossible. With this merger, we will increase the breadth and depth of our missing white women coverage, and so meet our sacred obligation to keep the electorate informed and aware about where the white women are at.”

The new network will consist of a WWWA channel, as well as WWWA Headline News, which will deliver all day’s key missing white women developments every half hour. Most of WWWA’s time will be devoted to covering current missing white women, but there will also be talk shows where groups of white men get together to discuss the significance of the day’s missing or imperilled white women. Additionally, there are plans for a game show, hosted by Tom DeLay and James Dobson, where family member compete in trivia contests and gross-out physical challenges in order to determine whether or not their comatose white women relatives are kept on life support.

For his part, FOX president Roger Ailes said the deal was no threat to his network. “WWWA will probably become the public’s most trusted source for white women news, but we at FOX view this as an opportunity. While WWWA is focused on white women, we will be able to satisfy the public’s curiousity about shark attacks, babies falling down wells, and celebrity murders, as well as the latest stories of Beloved Leader’s brilliant triumphs over terrorists, Frenchmen, and their villianous Democrat allies.”

WWWA debuts in most markets on Monday, June 13. It begins its exclusive coverage of white women at midnight with a six-hour special on Michael Jackson.

http://thepoorman.net/?p=179