To be surprised this isn’t more high profile

Very few missing persons cases are high profile. Seems to be quite arbitrary

i think the ones who make the news is where it’s out of character and they’re feared to be dead. A 12 year old girl who looks about 17-18, is probably in local authority care and willingly goes with two men doesn’t fall into that category. Especially as she has gone missing before.

It’s very common for children to go missing.
It’s just very rarely reported, apart from in the local area.

That was why there was a lot of issues over Madeline McCann because it was national news.

It’s absolutely shocking.
SM should be used for this exact reason but the news need to report on it too.

wow she doesn’t look 12 she looks much older

That’s very scary. She could easily be five years older in that picture. I do wonder if she is in care - I suspect she is. I really hope they find her soon.

Because there are so very many kids who go missing, (adults too), the news would be full of nothing else. They are usually known to run away and return. It is also likely to make no difference at all to the outcome whether the child is all over the news. And there may be good reasons why they actually shouldn't or wouldn't want to be plastered on the front pages.

The cases which are newsworthy are the ones where it is very unusual or foul play is suspected and it's thought press coverage will help.
Finally - we can all choose what news to read and people mostly lose interest. There are wars and scandals and new laws and crimes and celebrity dramas and natural disasters and silly "human interest" stories - and people take 30 seconds to skim them all.

It says she has gone missing before so it perhaps took a couple of days before they escalated it as opposed to a child disappearing on their way home from school out the blue.

She looks so much older than 12 in that photo. The whole story sounds really sad. I so hope she’s found safely but dread to think what is happening to her poor kid.

Missing teens rarely make national news. Especially if she's been missing before (which the article says she has) and, quite sadly, if they are in care.

My partner works with teens in care and they go missing alllllll the time.

Under age girls go missing all the time with older males unfortunately. Usually they are being groomed & sexually exploited. This one is becoming high profile because of her age and the length of time she's been missing. Poor girl.

There doesn't appear to be anything about her on the BBC. But there are articles on most major newspapers - Mirror, Express, Evening Standard, Sun as well as local papers. And the Met Police website.

We had a teen missing for a week in our area (found safely). It was all over social media, and local news, but not national.

Very few missing children actually make the national news.

its not ok but it’s true.

Presume you mean this girl?

https://www.msn.com/en-ie/news/world/missing-girl-12-has-not-been-seen-for-four-days/ar-AA1v22SB

I hope she's found safely. Poor child.

Links not working for me OP?

I think, sadly, a lot of it depends on if she's a looked after child, what she looks like, or if she comes from a family and area the general public can relate to. It's wrong.