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Missing white woman syndrome, also known as missing pretty girl syndrome, is a tongue-in-cheek term coined by some media critics to reference a form of media hype in which excessive news coverage is devoted to a specific missing white woman or girl, while virtually ignoring missing men, non-white women, or other news stories. According to these critics, reporting of these stories often lasts for several days or weeks, sometimes even months, and displaces reporting on other current events that some people consider more newsworthy, such as economics and politics. This syndrome appears to be most prevalent in U.S. media, but famous examples can also be found elsewhere in the world, e. g. the United Kingdom.

Journalists such as Gwen Ifill have referred to the phenomenon as "missing white woman syndrome", and the label is used in certain journalistic circles*, there is not yet any standard label. Conservative commentator Michelle Malkin referred to this phenomenon in June of 2005 as "missing pretty girl syndrome" and "damsel in distress syndrome." *

The phrase was used earlier in several articles and most notably, was the subject of an award-winning feature in Essence magazine that same month, called "Have You Seen Her?" In this article several missing African American women, such as Tamika Huston of South Carolina, were profiled by journalist Kristal Brent Zook.

Stages of the news cycle

Breaking story

According to developers of MWWS theory, the typical case involves 24-hour cable news media providing regular coverage on a daily basis of any and all developments, accompanied by lengthy discussions about the meaning of such developments by the shows' hosts and their guests. Such guests typically have a background in law and are invited by the host to freely speculate about evidence, suspects, and motive. Family pictures and video of the subject are shown frequently and repeatedly, and friends and family of the subject or a spokesperson for them are frequently invited as guests and asked their opinions of the investigation and any evidence or suspects. As a story gains popularity, tabloid news outlets often pick up on it, many times leading to questionable or unofficial information being reported as hard news.

Public consensus

Media critics suggest that this speculation often leads to a false consensus effect. Those involved in the investigation of the case (detectives, prosecutors, etc.) are invited onto the shows and asked pointed and accusatory questions suggesting that they are incompetent or negligent. Sometimes, the suspects themselves are invited on the shows and asked similarly pointed and accusatory questions about their involvement.

In the case of JonBenét Ramsey, a young girl first thought kidnapped and then found murdered in the basement of her own home, rampant speculation in the news media led most people to believe that the parents were guilty. Later developments, some believe, pointed to a murder by a stranger, and the case went cold.

Fading from view

If the case drags on for several weeks, the resulting public sympathy often prompts friends and family of the victim to establish a website with detailed information about the case and a charity foundation, first to offer a reward, then, when the case is resolved, to provide scholarships or aid to the families of the victims of similar tragedies.

Eventually, the case is resolved by the police, the news media gradually lose interest, or else a new, more urgent story comes to dominate coverage. Critics of the media say that very few follow-up stories are done unless major new developments occur.

Legacy

Frequently, cases that seem to fit this profile generate enough public interest that legislators are pressured to enact new laws that are meant to protect would-be victims of violent crime. Often, such laws are named or nicknamed for the victim in question. This is often cited by critics as an example of a deviancy amplification spiral.

Examples

Missing white females

Media critics consider the following cases to be examples of MWWS:

Missing non-whites or non-female

Critics contend the following examples of missing people received disproportionate coverage compared to MWWS cases:

  • LaToyia Figueroa (July 18, 2005) - an 18-year-old woman of African-American/Hispanic heritage from Philadelphia area whose case became prominent because of an organized Internet campaign to counter missing white woman syndrome. * Internet bloggers campaigned 10 days after Figueroa was presumed missing. On August 20, 2005, the body of Figueroa, who was pregnant, was found in Chester, Pennsylvania. Charges are pending against Stephen Poaches, the boyfriend of Figueroa. The major networks did not aid in breaking the story.

  • Kenji Ohmi (January 28, 2006) - a Japanese male exchange student. Japanese media cited low coverage in the U.S., comparing it with Audrey Seiler, a student who went missing which sparked wide media coverage and police hunt (she later admitted to staging a hoax), as an example of MWWS.

  • Shelton Sanders (June 19, 2001) - a 25 year-old male, African American college student. According to MSNBC "Sanders’ case received scant notice outside his small hometown of Rembert, S.C., even though he was a high-achieving student at the University of South Carolina who worked as a technician in the Department of Neuropsychiatry and Behavioral Science, and despite his father’s prominence as a county magistrate. Meanwhile, the disappearance of a white, female USC student with a similar academic record Dinwiddie has continued to receive national attention more than a dozen years after she vanished in 1992." [http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9622250/

Criticisms of MWWS in the Media

On July 4 2005, the collaborative website Kuro5hin posted an editorial highly critical of the media coverage of the investigation into the Natalee Holloway disappearance. The editorial accused the mass media of subtle racism for covering the Holloway case but ignoring the case of Reyna Alvarado-Carerra, a missing Hispanic girl. It was also critical of the great expense and time devoted to the search for a single missing person despite many other issues of concern the media could have covered instead. The openly combative and harsh tone of the editorial sparked hundreds of angry responses, including legal threats directed towards Kuro5hin's staff.

MWWS in the United Kingdom

MWWS may also exist in the United Kingdom. For example, the case of Sarah Payne, a white 8-year-old girl who was abducted and murdered in 2000, received extensive attention and led to calls for Sarah's Law. The Soham murders, which involved two 10-year-old white girls in a small town, received widespread and unprecedented coverage in the summer of 2002.

In January 2006, Commissioner of Metropolitan Police in London, Ian Blair claimed that the media displayed “institutional racism” in their coverage of murder cases, citing the Soham case among others.

However, some criticisms can be made from a British context:

  • Over 90% of the UK population is white, so it is likely that the majority of abduction and murder victims will be white.
  • Other factors may influence the degree of media coverage. Because the two vanished together there was for a long time hope that they were alive. Further the murder of two children by a non-family member is very rare so the Soham murders may have been newsworthy even if their race and gender had been different.
  • Cases involving young black victims such as Stephen Lawrence, Letitia Shakespear, Damilola Taylor and Victoria Climbie have also received widespread media exposure.
  • Many missing children cases receive little or no national coverage.

Parodies of MWWS

  • In 2004, American television's The Daily Show released The Book, which among other political topics parodied MWWS by offering a fictional formula regarding media coverage of a kidnapping. The equation went: Minutes of Coverage=Family Income*(Abductee Cuteness/Skin Color)^2+Length of Abduction*Media Savvy of Grieving Parents^3

External links

Criticism of journalism | Discrimination

Missing white woman syndrome

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Missing white woman syndrome".

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