Media_Bias__the_Lack_of_Reporting_on_Minority_Missing_Persons_in_the_Mainstream_Media

Media Bias: There is a Lack of Reporting on Minority Missing Persons in the Mainstream Media and Society has to Demand a Change Andrea Harris University of Phoenix RES/110 March 8, 2010 Dr. Fabio Moro Media Bias: There is a Lack of Reporting on Minority Missing Persons in the Mainstream Media and Society has to Demand a Change People of all races, genders, and economic backgrounds go missing every day. However, national media operations fail to present a diverse missing persons population when reporting to the public. The families are campaigning, but the producers are not listening, adhering instead to the belief stated by Jackson (2005), Middle America is not going to tune in night after night to catch the latest developments in the case of the poor black lady. Nor will they be driven to pick up a newspaper by seeing a dark face plastered on the front page under the words ‘still missing’. (para. 6) Of the 700,000 children reported missing every year, 33% are black, but you would never know from watching television news. According to the Radio-Television News Directors’ 2007 annual study of diversity, Blacks represent 9.5 percent of those in TV newsrooms and are 4.2 percent of TV news directors (Latour, 2007). Though no one admits race plays a role, research shows that a higher percentage of white female stories were covered than other minority stories and the decisions were made by producers and newspaper editors, based on what they felt would draw in viewers and sales. Media bias is apparent when reporting missing person cases and society has to demand a change. What is Missing White Woman Syndrome (MWWS) Saturation of coverage of Laci Peterson, Elizabeth Smart, and Natalee Holloway and a host of others like them, has reached such an all-time high that there is now a name commonly assigned to this phenomenon: The Missing White Woman Syndrome or MWWS. Its coinage attributed to Gwen Ifill of PBS, the term references the media’s fascination with missing women who are white, young, pretty, and often from middle or upper class backgrounds, and media’s simultaneous apparent lack of regard for those who do not fit this description (Leibler, 2008). In a research study conducted by Seong Jae Min, African Americans and Hispanics are seen as criminals more often on the news and white females as victims. The political economy of the media, newsroom sociology, and more broadly, the cultural hegemony in contemporary American society was related to the racial bias. In the Newsroom; Identifying the Decision Makers The Reason Why MWWS Exists According to statistics, though newsrooms have grown in diversity, the owners and journalists are predominately white and therefore prefer covering white victims (Min, 2008). Charles Brooks (2003), who interviewed Activist Alonzo Washington, stated that when white producers look at missing white children like Elizabeth Smart, they are thinking this could have been my child. The Sponsors and What Audience They are Targeting Media organizations, owned by whites, also define newsworthiness in white elite perspectives. The news organizations will broadcast stories that will appeal to their target audience, which is white. It makes sense to say that racial groups tend to like to see and hear about stories they can relate to, which is white (Min, 2008). Cable channels such as the urban channel BET, specializes in entertainment toward African Americans. Sponsors for this channel are focused toward this racial group. If a missing person story of an African American were going to broadcast, it likely would show on this channel. Stories that Made National News and Those that Were Never Heard Natalie Holloway’s disappearance on Labor Day 2005 is in sharp contrast with the lack of coverage of Latoyia Figueroa, a 24-year old Latina, pregnant with her second child, who disappeared in Philadelphia in July of that same year. It took until nine days later for CNN to pick up the story; this after local blogger Richard Blair (allspinzone.com) drew attention to Figueroa’s disappearance by writing a scathing critique of the media’s attention and sending it to Nancy Grace of CNN (Leibler, 2008). Saturation of Laci Peterson’s California disappearance was also handled quite differently by the media than that of 24-year old Evelyn Hernandez, a pregnant el Salvadoran immigrant who disappeared with her 4-year old son in San Francisco (Leibler, 2008). The media ignored Evelyn’s story, but briefly brought it up when Scott Peterson’s lawyer wanted to use it to show similarities in their cases (Hewitt, 2003). The Jessica Lynch Story The True Heroes As the 507th soldiers, members of a Patriot missile support group, drove through the city of Nasiriyah—the result of a navigational error—Iraqi residents appeared more stunned than hostile. When the unit made a U-turn and passed through the town again in an effort to rejoin its convoy. Of the 33 soldiers from the 507th who were involved in the attack, 11 were killed, nine were wounded, and seven were taken captive (Mulrine, 2008). Among those missing in action were Jessica Lynch, Shoshana Johnson, Patrick Miller, and Lori Piestewa. Patrick Miller fought the Iraqi soldiers by returning gunfire and killing up to half a dozen before finally being overpowered. It was Patrick, not Jessica, who fired until his ammunition was gone. Lori Piestewa succumbed to her injuries making her the first woman to die in the Iraq war and the first Native American woman ever to die in service of the United States. All the other POW’s were rescued; however, it was only Jessica’s story that was televised, which also prompted a book deal, parade, and movie. Hailed as a hero her name was everywhere. She would give testimony on April 24, 2007, before the United States House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform that the Pentagon had erroneously portrayed her as a Rambo from West Virginia, when in fact, she never fired a shot after her truck was ambushed (Tim, n.d.). The Story of Shoshana Johnson: A Comparison Shoshana Johnson is the first African American female prisoner of war. That should have made headlines when she was rescued after being held captive for 22 days in 2003. National headlines, instead, went to the other POW in Shoshana’s battalion, Jessica Lynch. Shoshana received less in disability payments than Jessica Lynch. Some say it was race related, though Shoshana is not willing to say that when interviewed (Johnson, 2005). Lynch received a book deal and Shoshana was offered one as well, although Shoshana’s was canceled when she refused to write a religious themed book (Mulrine, 2008). The Research Study A study was done taking the five top news programs: ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, and CNN over a period of two years 2005-2006 and retrieved their archives of any missing children cases that were broadcast. This was used against real world statistics of missing children cases from the national Crime Information Center (NCIC) of the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI). Indeed, the research showed little representation of racial minorities in television news. African American missing children cases were significantly underrepresented when compared to national statistics (Min, 2008). Conclusion Missing White Women’s Syndrome is a term used in referencing the saturation of media coverage when reporting on missing white females. There is a lack of coverage on minority women and families are asking why. The principle ethnicity of the owners, producers and editors are white and what they are more inclined to run as a story is the white girl missing over the black one. The decisions are also based on a certain dynamic of race and gender in their target audience to please their sponsors. Research supports that African American missing children are underrepresented when compared to national statistics. For every story that makes headlines, many do not. The news is there for the people, so the people need to demand the change. References Brooks, C. (2003). When it comes to lost black children, the white media is missing. New York Amsterdam News, 94(12), 5. Retrieved from MasterFile Premier database. Hewitt, B. (2003). The “other” Laci Peterson: Who killed Evelyn Hernandez' Retrieved from http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20140487,00.html Jackson, R. (2005). Missing person coverage misses mark. USA Today. Retrieved from MasterFile Premier database Johnson, T. (2005). Then & Now: Shoshana Johnson. Retrieved from http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/05/23//cnn25.tan.johnson Latour, F. (2007). “What happened to my child' Of the 700,000 children reported missing every year, 33 percent are African-Americans—but you would never know it from watching television news. Essence conducts a heartbreaking investigation into the disparity between searches for missing black children and those for white children and what we can do about it.” Essence, 38(5), 224. Retrieved from Gale: Academic Onefile (PowerSearch) database. Liebler, C. M. (2008). "Me(di)a Culpa': The “Missing White Woman Syndrome” and Media Self-Critique" Paper presented at the annual meeting of the International Communication Association, TBA, Montreal, Quebec, Canada Online. Retrieved from http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p231334_index.html International Communication Association, TBA, Montreal, Quebec, Canada Online. 2010-1-23 from http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p230591_index.html Mulrine, A. (2008). Out of the Spotlight. U.S. News & World Report, 144(9), 41-44. Retrieved from Academic Search Complete database. Tim, R. (n.d). Pentagon lied over ambush, reveals army `heroine'. Australian, The, Retrieved from International Security & Counter Terrorism Reference Center database.