Two missing boys, two different races, two types of coverage

[swag]

http://trueslant.com/saralibby/2010/06/07/anthonythomaskyronhormanmitricerichardson/

by Sara Libby

I first heard rumblings about a missing 11-year-old boy in Washington D.C. when I checked my Twitter feed first thing this morning. After a bit of searching, I found the Washington Post headline buried toward the bottom of the page – despite a mention in the story that Anthony Thomas “is now considered a critical missing person” – a frightening admission by the police that the boy might be in terrible danger.

I was surprised then – though I now realize I shouldn’t have been – to see a story about a missing young boy other than Anthony Thomas plastered across the top slot on People magazine’s website. There, the mag sounds the alarm for 7-year-old Kyron Horman, who never made it back to his Portland, Ore., home after attending his elementary school class. Certainly no publication has the resources or the space to cover each youngster who goes missing – but given their similar ages, the times at which they disappeared, and the relative mystery surrounding both – wouldn’t it make sense for People to mention both boys?

Since they didn’t, it’s legitimate to assume that race might have played a role in the coverage. People is notorious for covering the cases of missing white women – Natalee Holloway, Caylee Anthony, Madeleine McCann, Laci Peterson, etc. – in exhausting and excruciating detail, while women with similar stories like Mitrice Richardson get far less coverage (Richardson made a People magazine cover, but shared it with a group of other missing persons, while white women like Holloway received their own covers – sometimes more than once).

I certainly hope that both Anthony Thomas and Kyron Horman both make it home safely and securely, and as soon as humanly possible. But even if they do, it’s possible that Thomas might already be the victim of a documented media bias that heaps concern on white people in peril, and ignores or downplays stories involving people of color who also go missing.

[Divine Discontent]

1. thank you for posting that. that is so sad, and unfair to see.

[DesertFlower]

2. i agree.

[Divine Discontent]

3. one great man in that avatar image of yours... God bless

[johnroshan]

4. Typical behavior of Homo Sapiens, if you ask me.

We as a species are more tuned to react in a sympathetic way towards people of ones own race. You can see this in any country.

I'm not saying that it is the way it should be, its just the way it is. I consider it our responsibility to overcome such evolutionary instincts.

[Kweli4Real]

5. But the article isn't talking about how ...

humans react to stuff, it talks about the bias in the reporting of stuff.

[Wednesdays]

7. So...ignore black people. Just put white people on the covers.

Sell more magazines, then. Problem solved.
:eyes:

[NC_Nurse]

6. In NC, a serial killer has been murdering black women near Rocky Mount for

YEARS. It finally made the news earlier this year - after 7 women had been found dead, I believe and two are missing.
I think they were mostly prostitutes, but I don't care. This should have been covered LONG ago. I still think the killer is at large.

[tomm2thumbs]

8. t r u t h

and sad to see it so plainly exemplified

[Blue_Tires]

9. as a former reporter, i saw that all too well

i read police reports and announcements, and knew how many kids and teens regularly went missing, and for the most part all the coverage they ever got was my small-time weekly county newspaper...

This was around the time that CNN really started going overboard with their 24-hour, all-experts, "Pretty blonde jailbait suburban teen missing for three hours" national stories...it was very disillusioning to me...

[kath]

10. Quelle surprise!!

Not.
:mad:

Hey, don'cha know this is a "post-racial" society?

[Ed Barrow]

11. thanks for posting this (nt)