to be suprised this didn't make the national news

[wineclub]

A 25 year old woman was murdered near where I live on thursday walking home from work. She was missing for 3 days before her body was found hidden in woodland.

There was an initial arrest (rumoured to be the DH) but that person was released.

The police are warning people to be "vigliant" and saying it was likely to be a pre meditated attack by a local man unknown to the victim.

I know there is shit loads going on but its worrying that a stranger murder commited at 5 o'clock on a thursday doesn't even make the news.

The news at the moment it totally consumed with the Japanese earthquake/tsunami/nuclear problem and the Libyan civil war. The main national news programmes do not expand in length, so some stories that might get more airtime in a quiet week, don't get a look in. Local news is a different matter.

People who try to dumb this down to 'the media isn't interested in black people' are exposing their own prejudices and are missing the point.

This reminds me of the Milly Dowling case where the body of a 15 year old girl was found and the press gave big coverage to speculating it was Milly. It wasn't and the press lost interest - just the body of an unknown murdered teenager they weren't interested in .

Libby Brooks (I think) later wrote an article in The Guardian about this very subject - why some cases generate coverage and some don't. She did find out who it was - a girl who had been in care and was living on the streets - feel terrible that I don't remember her name.

It would have made the news on a low news day like woman in Bristol whose disappearance/murder dominated all the headlines over Christmas, or a situation like the McCanns where they had media manipulation connections. But all the ME stuff going on, then Japan, and now the boys own shoot-em-up computer game Libyan situation, doesn't stand a chance of being noticed

Also when London Teenage Knife Crime was the big press story a couple of years ago, a woman was stabbed to death on my street (notorious inner London borough) but as she was in her thirties, her own home and her partner did it, barely made the local news.

What is newsworthy to some may not be so to others. It is just one of those things. You can just read the subject board on this forum to be amazed what some people put their energy into...