Missing Persons - Racial Bias?

Years ago, I worked with a guy in my office, who seemed to be immersed in news and media. Which I suppose in and of itself constituted neither harm nor foul, except for the fact that sometimes his interest spilled over into his work time, about which I had to speak to him a few times. But anyway, he was an interesting character, and one who seemed to be quite prone to question the news reports (which is good, in my view) but at the same time, was one of those types who seemed to think government conspiracies were around each door. He also, while not very openly vocal about racial bias views, quite often expressed that there was still an overwhelming discriminatory feeling in the mass media towards black people. He himself was black, so I simply chalked it up to racial sensitivity, and since I am generally of the opposite opinion, it made for some very interesting discussions.

One day, while we were eating lunch or I was accompanying him on one of his smoke breaks (I hope for my health's sake that it was the former), he suggested to me that the media has a tremendous bias towards not only reporting missing persons who are white much more than missing persons who are black, but moreover, the missing persons that they reported tended to be fairly "attractive" people (from the shallow Hollywood westernized view). In other words, not only does the media give undue spotlight on white missing persons, but almost often are not overweight, wear glasses, or look like a participant from a GWAR concert. While I never thought about my friend's view on things in great depth, I was skeptical that there would be such blatant bias in the media. I was rather dismissive of his contention, and considered it once again his oversensitivity to all things racial.

It is not until the past year or so that I have continued to ponder whether my friend was actually right. I mean, for the life of me, I cannot remember any high or mid-profile missing persons case reported in the media that involved a black person. At first, I thought that perhaps this may have a more natural explanation - that white people tend to go missing more than black people. But a local visit to my local Walmart or anywhere else that posts photos and info on missing persons seems to lead me to believe that people who go missing know no racial boundaries - that is, black people go missing as well, and to a lesser degree, Asians as well. Now, that being said, a few years back in Toronto, there was an extremely high profile case of Cecilia Zhang, a young Asian girl, who was abducted right out of her home, and sadly, murdered by some mofo who I hope gets severely sodomized in prison. For those detractors who would argue that this was a glaring exception to my friend's theory, I would tend to counter-argue the fact that this got such high exposure because of the fact that Toronto has a large Asian population. Yes, there was an amber alert issued Canada wide, but I talked with a buddy in New Brunswick on the east coast of Canada, and he said that while initially the news outlets there carried the story, after a week or so, the story died down. It, however, continued to be big news here in the Toronto area.

Over the years, I have grown both wary and increasingly disgusted with the coverage that CNN.com provides. Yes, it is unobjectively pro-American, but it also espouses extremely liberal views as a rule. Moreover, its coverage of the world of entertainment (read: those damn celebrities) is nauseating. At the very least, if you look at another large media outlet like the BBC, it tends to be a little more objective in its news reporting and doesn't continue to churn out really dumb-ass stories that no one cares about, like CNN.com does. But while these things tend to churn at the developing fecal matter in my bowels, I have been absolutely disgusted at the level of focus they provide on missing persons cases. Take, for example, that Alabama teen, Natalee Holloway, who disappeared in Aruba two years ago. They continue to flash the photos of this blonde, blue-eyed, seemingly "attractive" (by shallow media standards) teen/woman. They are not sure what happened to her, but it is a safe bet to presume she is likely dead, since no one has heard from her since. Now, I am saddened to hear that someone who went on vacation went missing, but a year ago I took the liberty of looking up some missing persons stats in the U.S. and Canada, and there are more than a few missing persons who went somewhere and disappeared. Now, in looking at these other photos, some people were men, others were elderly, some were young but were overweight, there were a few minorities, etc. But what makes the Holloway case so special? If she was black, would she even get the time of day from CNN? How about if she was 300lbs.? Would they even care?

Next one - the infamous Madelaine McCann case. You'll recall that she was the 4-year-old girl who went missing from her hotel room in Portugal. They broadcast this big-eyed little girl with dirty blonde hair, who looks like someone from that "Precious Moments" series of books and such. Kids get abducted all the time - even in the Toronto area, there are many kids who are missing. I see their names and faces at the local grocery store, library, etc., all the time. I believe these kids have value as well as human beings, and they should be afforded the same courtesy as those who have higher profiles. Yet my friend would suggest they are "not photogenic" from media standards and do not qualify as someone white citizens would rally around. I am finding that I am having some increasing affinity with my friend's sentiments.

Now, going back several years, you may recall another case of that intern, Chandra Levy, who went missing. Some may argue that the fact that she had such mass media exposure, and she wasn't blonde-haired/blue-eyed would indicate that there is in fact, no media bias. However, I would go out on a limb and posit that her coverage was akin to the Ceclia Zhang coverage. Levy was Jewish, and it is no secret that there is a large contingent of Jews in the media and news industry. True, she was in a sex scandal that involved a congressman, but that is no so unusual in the U.S., is it? Had she been an Arab or something, I'm not so sure whether she would have been given the time of day. Once again, think long and hard about the last time you heard of a missing persons case that was featured prominently in the news that involved a black person, an, Asian person, a Native Indian, an overweight white person, or an elderly person. It's not just about race. It's about the media not affording the time and fair treatment to people they don't deem attractive. Remember, we're not talking about the porn industry's criteria for selecting "actresses" in their movies or photos shoots here. Obviously in that case, they are catering to men's fantasies (which, interestingly enough, are likely influenced by the mass media anyway), but we're talking about affording the same equitable opportunity for a missing person who may not be photogenic or may not fit the mold of "Hollywood attractiveness" but are just as entitled to have their pictures shown in order to increase the likelihood of them being found.