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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To wonder why some missing cases are high profile?

7 replies

WashedupTroll · 24/03/2022 23:06

www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-60837298

I've never heard about Robert Williams, he was only 15, ok I'm not in Wales but he was a child when he went missing. Damien Nettles is another one, Patrick Warren and David Spencer

Why do some just disappear with little mass media fuss?

OP posts:
Whitefire · 24/03/2022 23:10

Patrick and David were thoroughly let down. They were considered bad 'uns from the wrong side of town. Once it was apparent that they hadn't simply run off, interest peaked a bit. However I was local, so maybe it didn't reach as much nationally.

Helloyouup · 24/03/2022 23:24

A variety of things I suppose off the top of my head

Who the missing person is
Their background
The amount of leads
The area
The police responsible for the case
Budget
The media in the area
What the police think is likely to have happened

Also if you look up the stats of how many people go missing every day it’s horrifying but clear why very few get attention.

ThurstonArmbrister · 24/03/2022 23:26

This might have something to do with it:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missing_white_woman_syndrome

Justanotherlurker · 24/03/2022 23:32

I was going to post the same as ThurstonArmbrister, it's basically /thread

WashedupTroll · 24/03/2022 23:40

So is that because the public are more interested if its a white woman, or is it the news that want to push it.

Robert Williams, the reason I've posted, not even much details online. He was 15.

OP posts:
XDownwiththissortofthingX · 25/03/2022 01:05

I was going to post the same as ThurstonArmbrister, it's basically /thread

Yup

White, middle-class mother gets stabbed to death in broad daylight in some leafy, home counties village, it's UK National headline news.

White, working-class lad gets stabbed to death in broad daylight in a Glasgow housing scheme, it won't even get mentioned on regional news, and will likely be no more than a paragraph tucked away on the regional website.

Two people stabbed to death, two totally different media reactions. Evidently, not all lives are considered to have the same value.

Calandor · 25/03/2022 11:32

@WashedupTroll

So is that because the public are more interested if its a white woman, or is it the news that want to push it.

Robert Williams, the reason I've posted, not even much details online. He was 15.

It's that people are more interested in seeing themselves. And the majority of British readers are white and from a 'normal'/average family aka no crime links, no criminal history, no runaways etc.

If the parents/the person have a well known profession (child of a nurse/doctor/lawyer etc) that helps too.

The press will only publish loads of stories on someone if it's pulling in page views. That's led by public interest.

I'd say that the biggest thing for a story going big is a child under 12 or an attractive woman/teen. If the woman is beautiful loads more people click on it.

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