To ask why the media seems so fixated on missing white women?

[TheGreyShark]

It feels like every time a woman goes missing, the amount of media coverage she gets depends heavily on her race. When a young, attractive white woman disappears, it’s headline news, with rolling updates, public concern and extensive investigations. Meanwhile, countless missing women of colour - many from vulnerable backgrounds - barely get a mention.

Of course, every missing person case is tragic but the disparity in coverage is glaring. Is it just about what gets views or is there a deeper bias at play?

AIBU to think the media has an obvious preference when it comes to whose stories get told?

They also talked about Sarah Everard being a marketing executive. What’s your point?

The families all work hard to put things in the public eye but they cannot choose what the media and police choose to prioritise.

The discomfort often comes from realising that some cases get massive support and visibility, while others - often involving marginalised people - barely register. It’s not about saying “they shouldn’t get help” but more like “why don’t others get the same chance?” And that question becomes really important if we care about fairness in how people are treated, protected and remembered.

Black people are 5% pf the uk population
Ergo there are far more missing white people than black people
One could ask why the media is obsessed with back women who appear on nearly every advert on TV

Bore off.

You feel there are too many Black faces on TV?

There are plenty of white women and especially men who go missing and don't recieve any media coverage also if that makes you feel better?

Yes, that was my point. I expect that many women go missing but because they don’t have these sort of qualifications, the media don’t cover them in the same way.

Much was made of Sarah Everard having gone to Durham.

The point is unconscious bias coupled with institutional racism.

I was pretty sure I remembered those two ladies you mention, I thought one was Doctor though. Just Googled and headline after headline does/did refer to their professions tbf.

I feel like I’ve been promoted to MN Royalty now I’ve got someone obsessed with me. Do you want an autograph or something?

Of course there's bias. In the same way that, overall, attractive, profesional, middle class white women being murdered by her husband/father/brother/son are far more likely to get a lot of media coverage than young, unemployed black women.

It's becuase the more "surprising" t is, the more newsworthy it is. And inherently, when a workign class, unemployed black woman is murdered by her husband/father/brother/son it's not considered as "surprising"

I find it horrifying. I'd like to make it law that any woman murdered by a man she knows should be in the headlines across all newspapers for at least 2 days.

An argument can certainly be made that black people are overrepresented in the UK media landscape relative to Asian people, despite the Asian community being twice as large.

Not saying there are too many black faces - it’s just interesting that black people are generally much more represented than a much larger minority group, and probably at least partially a result of American cultural influence (black people are at least 13% of the population there).

Where did you get three quarters?

It’s just over 60% including white hispanics and just under 60% for white non-latino.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/DemographicsoftheUnitedStates

It’s a majority but the media coverage for missing white women still is disproportionate. Hence why I was more surprised with this in the USA than I am in the UK.

I think it is sadly racism. Additionally, I'm sure attractive younger people going missing etc will get more coverage ...Im sure there's research on this - particularly in America. I think also the status and family will also make more newspaper 'news' too, then those who are missing and alienated from family.

From the US census website, probably more reliable than Wikipedia...

It’s not about feeling better, it’s about recognising patterns. Of course there are white people who go missing without coverage too and that’s also a part of the conversation about who the media pays attention to. The point isn’t to rank tragedies - it’s to ask why some stories consistently get prioritised, while others don’t, and what that tells us about visibility, bias and public empathy.

Black women don’t appear in nearly every advert in the UK.

No my personal discomfort is definitely that it feels a bit churlish for people to be bothered by it. I know others/you aren't saying that, it just makes me wince a bit 😔

Newspapers seem to like talking about the job, and wealth of the person, and their £600k house etc, or the fact that their parents are doctors..etc. It is as if certain strands of society are more newsworthy. And I'd like to say I'm shocked by this - but sadly not.

You don’t live in London - definitely not the case with the press down here!

For example they even have a term “black on black crime” which is very unique. I don’t think I have ever heard “brown on brown”, “white on white” for example used outside of comedy!

I don't think the question should be why do white women get so much coverage but rather why don't other ethnicities get the same publicity. My take is that people tend to be only concerned about issues that relate to them thus white people may be more concerned about issues that affect them. Or perhaps stories about white people are more relatable.

I would like add that it seems that wealthy and middle class people seem to be more deserving of coverage than poor people.

Did you mean that when the missing person/ victim is not white, then the media gives the profession so that the majority of readers will feel more for the person?
I'm a WOC and do completely agree with the racism. 1 Iraqi school having a shooting attack would not make the news, but this happening in America or the UK? It'd make world wide news.

Apparently, the phrase came from America. It quite a silly term.