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Date Posted: 12:18:07 06/20/02 Thu
Author: Joy
Subject: Two missing girls' cases show media disparity; Black Milwaukee girl gets little notice, white Utah girl widely covered. (Click)
Taken from BlackAmericaWeb.com:
By Mark Johnson and Annysa Johnson
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Last Updated: June 14, 2002
The national media flocked to Salt Lake City to tell the nation about Elizabeth Smart. Why haven't the reporters descended on Milwaukee to tell the nation about Alexis Patterson?
Two cases, two cities, two different stories.
In Milwaukee, a 7-year-old girl disappears on May 3 after setting off for Hi-Mount Community School on W. Garfield Ave. in the central city. In Salt Lake City, a 14-year-old is apparently kidnapped at gunpoint from her family's million-dollar home on June 5.
Patterson is featured in short snippets on the TV show "America's Most Wanted," CNN and Fox News. Otherwise the story receives scant national attention. No stories in The New York Times or Washington Post.
The Times and Post both send reporters to Salt Lake City to write about Elizabeth Smart. There are stories about her in The Boston Globe, Miami Herald and newspapers as far away as Sydney, Australia. MSNBC provides hourly updates, and the case is featured on CNN's "Larry King Live" and the CNBC/MSNBC show, "Hardball with Chris Matthews."
A Nexis search of major newspapers and magazines shows 67 stories about Patterson, almost all of them by The Associated Press and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. In the last week, there have been more than 400 stories about Smart.
Tale of black and white?
There is another difference between the two cases that cannot be ignored. Smart is white; Patterson black.
"I just feel it's unfair," said John Robins-Wells, a retired investigator who now is assisting leaders of the group Locate Alexis Patterson.
But the reason for the disparity in media attention isn't what some might think, he said Friday. "I don't think it's a racial thing. I'm a white person myself. We have a lot of volunteers who are Caucasians." He thinks different journalists simply have different ideas about what makes a compelling national story.
Many factors determine why journalists focus on one missing child and not another, said Bob Steele, director of the ethics program at the Poynter Institute, a school for journalists in St. Petersburg, Fla. For example, Smart apparently was abducted from her own home, tapping into a fear every parent would understand. Coverage of the two cases also may have been influenced by the actions of police departments, parents and national organizations for missing children.
While there are many possible reasons why Smart has become a national story and Patterson has not, race should not be discounted, Steele said Friday. He recalled two cases of missing Hispanic children that were widely covered in the media, but could not come up with a high-profile case involving a missing black child. (Last year's abduction of Jasmine Anderson, a black Milwaukee infant, and the disappearance of black sisters Tionda and Diamond Bradley from Chicago both made national news).
"I think it is essential that we turn the spotlight on ourselves," he said. "Are we prone to the vagaries of racial bias compounded by class bias?"
That question provoked discomfort from some national media outlets on Friday. Others simply dismissed the possibility that race has in any way influenced coverage.
"Was she taken from her bedroom at gunpoint?" snapped MSNBC spokeswoman Phoebe Glasner when asked if an editor could speak about the lack of coverage of the Patterson case.
Although Glasner said she had just come from a meeting where a similar issue was being discussed, she wasn't certain anyone would comment.
At Newsweek, which has a story on the Smart case in this week's issue, Managing Editor Jon Meacham did not return a telephone call seeking comment Friday. Magazine spokesman Ken Weine said any comment would come through him, but added that he would "not be tremendously helpful."
At The New York Times, spokeswoman Kathy J. Park said in an e-mail, "According to our editors, we are looking into the Milwaukee story. You're right that The Times has not taken note of the Patterson case, though I can certainly state that racial inequities play no role in our news judgments."
Stories on Alexis have appeared in the St. Paul (Minn.) Pioneer Press, and Milwaukee police say ABC's "Good Morning America" made an early inquiry but never followed up.
But "Good Morning America" has a different version of its work on the Milwaukee story, saying a producer earlier this week made repeated calls to the Police Department and tried to track down the family to no avail.
"We actively pursued this story, trying to contact the (police) public information office, special investigations office and the parents," said Lisa Finkel, a spokeswoman for the show. "And when we were not able to get hold of them, we thought our viewers would be well served by a report on an innovative program that assists in the safe return of missing children."
How police departments work with the media, especially how much information they make public, sometimes influences the coverage a missing child case receives, Steele said.
How media-savvy the parents of a missing child are also plays a role in news coverage. Emotional pleas from mothers and fathers are more likely to lead newscasts or land on front pages. Like the Smarts, Patterson's mother made a tearful plea to abductors to return her child, but the message didn't travel far from Wisconsin.
How parents and neighborhoods are perceived can be another important factor, Steele said. When stories paint a family as "perfect," the tragedy seems somehow more dramatic, he said.
By the same token, media coverage may be less enthusiastic if the parents aren't perceived as completely sympathetic. Some news accounts have noted that Patterson's stepfather served a two-year prison term for selling drugs and also was the getaway driver in an Oct. 28, 1994, bank robbery that resulted in the shooting death of Glendale police Officer Ronald Hedbany.
Steele pointed out that most newsrooms across the country still have a smaller percentage of minorities than the communities they cover. "It's inescapable that we examine whether we are tilted in our coverage and look at how and why we cover certain missing children," he said.
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This one is hard to respond to because it's so hard to make sense out of racism (so harsh a term for so harsh a reality, a reality that most people continue to deny). I think that people don't admit to racism or favoritism because in doing so, they have to admit that their treatment of other human beings is any thing but human. A child is missing. That should be all that raises the compassion, the empathy and the ire or all of us. (Click) -- Lafaux, 15:13:55 06/20/02 Thu
The author, Domnick Dunne, was on Fox News last night, and he was asked why Elizabeth Smart's disappearance warranted the media coverage that it is getting, and Dunne went on to described Elizabeth Smart as an angel. Think about it. When you see pictures of angels, what do they look like? These are things that are engrained in us, so that even very decent people react more favorably to a certain look or life style than they do another. In this case,it's that old vicious cycle. The media tells us what to think, and what we should like, then they sell it to us 24-7.
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OH Lafaux, I was stunned at D. Dunne's words last night. But not only him...clk -- Tf, 21:44:15 06/20/02 Thu
> I don't think D. Dunne is right about this one. I think a lot has to do with Elizabeth Smart being taken from her own bedroom. Plus, her family is affluent. People who don't usually feel vulnerable want to hear about this one.
I was channel surfing last night and came across Chris Matthew's saying pretty much the same thing as Dunne.(Paraphrase)-' E. Smart is so beautiful and angelic. That's why we're intrigued. That's why this story has staying power.' Honestly, I think that's why HE'S intrigued. He's Irish-Catholic and she does look like the western depictions of angels he probably grew up with.
The story that is so horrendous to me is the disappearance of Rilya Wilson.
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Rilya is the little girl who disappeared from the Florida, correct? I mentioned the failure of the state to give a damn about the children that they are paid to protect. I also reponded to the Smart kidnapping on this board when it was first reported, as "Your worst nightmare, come true" (click) -- Lafaux, 22:01:35 06/20/02 Thu
The horror of the Smart case, for me, is that she was taken from her bedroom. What can be more frightening? Home should be a place of safety. When you put your children to bed at night, they should have sweet dreams, and they very well should be there in the morning.
But Tf, I go back to media coverage and the fact that the business of media is to push what sells. The Smart case sells because people what answers. They don't want that nightmare to come true for themselves. I wish that along with the Smart story, they would focus on some of the other stories as well.
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Re: Rilya is the little girl who disappeared from the Florida, correct? I mentioned the failure of the state to give a damn about the children that they are paid to protect. I also reponded to the Smart kidnapping on this board when it was first reported, as "Your worst nightmare, come true" (click) -- alyssa, 16:41:40 03/12/07 Mon
the smart case was serious and i would be totally freaked out but kids usually dont think that they can get kidnapped but anyone can no matter where or what.
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Re: Two missing girls' cases show media disparity; Black Milwaukee girl gets little notice, white Utah girl widely covered. (Click) -- anne cook, 15:16:05 08/04/02 Sun
>Taken from BlackAmericaWeb.com:
>
>
Toledo Ohio, four young girls are dead and local news has barely touched on it. 14 year old Mianna Moore from an East Toledo neighborhood some how ended up at a mans house who her parents claim, had no connection or relationship with her-the house burns down killing Mianna and her four friends-Mr. Garza the owner of the house escaped. Police arrive on the scene-somehow overlooked piles of child pornography that neighbors speculate Garza attempted to save. Neighbors had been in contact with police concerning Garza (a known pedaphile-having been charged with touching a young girl 3 years prior)having young girls over to his house on a nearly daily basis-NOTHING was ever done-(as stated by a blurb in a local paper The Toledo Blade) According to Toledo police chief Navarre, a report was filed againstGarza by a minor earlier this year-it was never investigated. Neighbors with the aid of a reporter from the local news- discovered Garza's photo albums containing children in various positions and stages of undress-the news reporter contacted the police and Garza was charged with pandering obscene material. In a time of abduction hysteria- when the media is marketing peoples pain-it takes a tragady of an upper class white girl for people to pay attention. Even locally this story has gained little to no attention. I wonder- if this would of happened in a different neighborhood to different faces-would Garza be painted a monster and justice urged? However, because of hasty investigation the police are slow to admit (even slower to reconcile) that evidence was overlooked. Do minorities matter in media?
>************
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Re: Two missing girls' cases show media disparity; Black Milwaukee girl gets little notice, white Utah girl widely covered. (Click) -- stephanie, 06:37:13 03/15/05 Tue
IS THAT SUCH A SHOCK, DON'T NONE OF THESE PEOPLE GIVE HALF A FUCK ABOUT BLACK FOLKS. ONLY TIME THEY GIVE A DAMN IS IF UR A RICH BLACK PERSON LIKE OPRAH OR SOME SHIT. AND EVEN THEN ALL THEY'LL WANT TO KNOW IS HOW THEY CAN GET YOUR MONEY, AND HOW THE HELL DID A BLACK PERSON GET SO RICH. BUT THAT'S OK, US BLACK PEOPLE WILL HAVE OUR DAY. ALL I'M SAYING IS US BLACK PEOPLE STAY COMPLAINING ABOUT THE PROBLEMS HAPPENING AROUND US RIGHT? WELL DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. WHY DID'NT THE NEIGHBORS WHO SAW THIS GUY WITH YOUNG GIRLS IN HIS HOUSE ALL THE TIME CALL THE POLICE OR SOMETHING. DO SOMETHING INSTEAD OF SITTING AROUND SAYING OH THAT'S SO SAD! LET'S MAKE A CHANGE. BLACK IS BEAUTIFUL AND STRONG. SO RESPECT AND LOVE IT!!!! >>Taken from BlackAmericaWeb.com:
>>
>>
>Toledo Ohio, four young girls are dead and local news
>has barely touched on it. 14 year old Mianna Moore
>from an East Toledo neighborhood some how ended up at
>a mans house who her parents claim, had no connection
>or relationship with her-the house burns down killing
>Mianna and her four friends-Mr. Garza the owner of the
>house escaped. Police arrive on the scene-somehow
>overlooked piles of child pornography that neighbors
>speculate Garza attempted to save. Neighbors had been
>in contact with police concerning Garza (a known
>pedaphile-having been charged with touching a young
>girl 3 years prior)having young girls over to his
>house on a nearly daily basis-NOTHING was ever
>done-(as stated by a blurb in a local paper The Toledo
>Blade) According to Toledo police chief Navarre, a
>report was filed againstGarza by a minor earlier this
>year-it was never investigated. Neighbors with the aid
>of a reporter from the local news- discovered Garza's
>photo albums containing children in various positions
>and stages of undress-the news reporter contacted the
>police and Garza was charged with pandering obscene
>material. In a time of abduction hysteria- when the
>media is marketing peoples pain-it takes a tragady of
>an upper class white girl for people to pay attention.
>Even locally this story has gained little to no
>attention. I wonder- if this would of happened in a
>different neighborhood to different faces-would Garza
>be painted a monster and justice urged? However,
>because of hasty investigation the police are slow to
>admit (even slower to reconcile) that evidence was
>overlooked. Do minorities matter in media?
>>************
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