Media 'Missing White Woman syndrome'

goof2 · 05-09-2013, 11:19 AM

From the article: "The coverage of these two cases reflects an overall trend in the media.

According to a 2010 academic study, roughly 80% of the news coverage about missing children is devoted to victims who are not black, while only 20% is given to children who are black.

The breakdown in media coverage does not reflect reality. "We have a sort of racial hierarchy," says McIlwain."

OK, so 20% of coverage is devoted to kidnapped black children. What is the "reality" that the media's coverage does not reflect? I didn't see anything in the article that put this statistic in context. Lets consider demographics in the US where blacks make up 12-13% of the population. If kidnappings of black children occur at a similar rate these kidnappings apparently get significantly more coverage than what is reflected in reality. They would be toward the top of McIlwain's "racial hierarchy".

On the other hand if black children are being kidnapped significantly more often than population distribution suggests (would need to be well over 20% of cases to indicate skewed coverage) the better question would likely be why the hell are so many black kids getting kidnapped.

05-09-2013, 11:19 AM	#6
goof2 AMA Supersport Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 4,756	From the article: "The coverage of these two cases reflects an overall trend in the media. According to a 2010 academic study, roughly 80% of the news coverage about missing children is devoted to victims who are not black, while only 20% is given to children who are black. The breakdown in media coverage does not reflect reality. "We have a sort of racial hierarchy," says McIlwain." OK, so 20% of coverage is devoted to kidnapped black children. What is the "reality" that the media's coverage does not reflect? I didn't see anything in the article that put this statistic in context. Lets consider demographics in the US where blacks make up 12-13% of the population. If kidnappings of black children occur at a similar rate these kidnappings apparently get significantly more coverage than what is reflected in reality. They would be toward the top of McIlwain's "racial hierarchy". On the other hand if black children are being kidnapped significantly more often than population distribution suggests (would need to be well over 20% of cases to indicate skewed coverage) the better question would likely be why the hell are so many black kids getting kidnapped.