https://padlet.com/caitlinmitchell7_1/yspaqwvbho5oczn0 Research Question: What factors determine if a victim gets national media attention or not? en-us 2023-03-13 12:59:55 UTC 2023-04-06 12:30:19 UTC hello@padlet.com caitlinmitchell7_1 https://padlet.com/caitlinmitchell7_1/yspaqwvbho5oczn0/wish/2514406962 Rule's text The Stranger Besides Me chronicles the intersection of her work as a crime journalist with her personal relationship with notorious serial killer Ted Bundy. As Bundy's crimes make headlines, Rule begins to have the horrifying realization that her sweet and sensitive colleague and friend Ted could be the person the nation is terrified of. 

While there are many stories out there about Ted Bundy, Rule's text not only stands apart because of the two's personal friendship, but, more importantly, for her victim-forward approach to writing about true crime. Rather than allow Bundy to take precedence over the lives he took, Rule spends significant time telling the stories of the women he murdered beyond their deaths. Though she undoubtedly humanizes elements of Bundy throughout the text, she does not let him be "the star" and instead shines a light on the lives whose lights he extinguished.

Rule's treatment of Bundy's victims forced me to think not just about Bundy and his crimes, but the types of women he chose and the role that choice made in the coverage his crimes received. In choosing predominately young, white, pretty, college-aged women, Bundy brought more media attention to his victim's disappearances and deaths than he may have had he chosen different victims.

Bundy's victims "played well" on the evening news and their deaths provoked strong emotions in the public. People were shocked and angry that horrible things could happen to "good girls" who didn't seek out danger and who played by the rules. People felt, rightly so, for the victims and their families--but that's not the case for all victims of violent crime.

The attention the media and general public gave to Bundy's victims caused me to think about current crime coverage and what stories get heavy news coverage. I can easily name a dozen or more victims who look like Bundy's victims, but I can name fewer than five victims that don't. This made me want to explore why this is.]]> 2023-03-13 13:19:22 UTC https://padlet.com/caitlinmitchell7_1/yspaqwvbho5oczn0/wish/2514406962 caitlinmitchell7_1 https://padlet.com/caitlinmitchell7_1/yspaqwvbho5oczn0/wish/2514439781 While Jensen and Case's text is more focused on the police work it took to bring Gary Ridgeway, the Green River Killer, to justice (and rightly so, Jensen's father was one of the lead detectives on the case), the text also shines a light on a very different victim type from the women Bundy preyed on. While Bundy's victims were largely middle class white women in their early 20s, Ridgeway's victims were predominately sex workers. 

Ridgeway's victims were seen as less sympathetic in the general public's eyes due to their occupation and lifestyles. Additionally, many (though not all) had fewer local family and community ties than Bundy's victims, and their disappearances were not noticed as quickly. To compound this, when friends--often fellow sex workers--were to notice a woman's disappearance, they had to navigate an already distrustful relationship with police in order to bring attention to the matter. 

As Ridgeway's victims were not all white, looking at this text made me think about the role race plays in victim sympathy or in media coverage. While these women's occupation as sex workers certainly contributed to the police, media, and general public's responses to their murders, what role does race play in shaping the response and sympathy of people to victims of violent crime?]]> 2023-03-13 13:38:09 UTC https://padlet.com/caitlinmitchell7_1/yspaqwvbho5oczn0/wish/2514439781 caitlinmitchell7_1 https://padlet.com/caitlinmitchell7_1/yspaqwvbho5oczn0/wish/2514516932 This four part HBO docuseries covers the work of The Black and Missing Foundation's creators Derrica and Natalie Wilson "as they fight an uphill battle to bring awareness to the Black missing person cases that are marginalized by law enforcement and national media."

Derrica and Natalie Wilson's life mission is to help bring attention to missing persons and victims of crime that may not otherwise get national media attention and to help victim's families advocate for their loved ones and access the tools they need to do so. Their motto is "to help us find us," a message that speaks to the community based activism that is often necessary in order to get BIPOC victims the attention they deserve.

I first heard Derrica and Natalie speak on an episode of the podcast My Favorite Murder (Episode #335) where podcasters Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark used their platform to bring further attention to the two women's work. Kilgariff and Hardstark, both white, are part of a movement in the true crime community seeking to change the narrative about which victims get media attention and focus. It is through this podcast episode that I learned about their work and sought out the HBO series.

The HBO series raised further questions for me about the role privilege plays in the attention victims receive. While racism (blatant or implicit) is certainly a factor in which missing faces get national media attention, myriad elements of privilege also play a factor. The more connections, resources, and knowledge a victim's family has, the easier time they may have in bringing their loved one's story to the public eye.

Derrica and Natalie's personal backgrounds demonstrate this. For two decades, Derrica worked in law enforcement and Natalie worked in public relations and media. They both know how the system works and who to reach out to in moments of crisis. They know how to advocate for missing persons and victims, and their credentials give them credibility in the eyes of police and media. Victims' families often do not have this background, and families in lower income brackets, who speak limited English, have had negative interactions with law enforcement, or whose immigration status isn't secure may find themselves unable or scared to get the attention they need for their loved ones.

Black and Missing Foundation: https://www.blackandmissinginc.com/
https://www.blackandmissinginc.com/statistics/

]]> 2023-03-13 14:21:46 UTC https://padlet.com/caitlinmitchell7_1/yspaqwvbho5oczn0/wish/2514516932 caitlinmitchell7_1 https://padlet.com/caitlinmitchell7_1/yspaqwvbho5oczn0/wish/2514550411 The Columbia School of Journalism created a "press calculator" to demonstrate how age, gender, race, and location help contribute to press coverage of missing persons and to bring attention to the phenomenon of "Missing White Woman Syndrome."

As a 37 year old white woman from MA, I would, on average, appear in approximately 23 news stories. Fifteen years ago (in my early 20s) I would have appeared in over 120. Most of my coverage would be in local news outlets rather than national news outlets. At the most, 40% of Americans would hear about my disappearance. 

While the calculator does not take into consideration things that might help me get more media attention like my occupation (teachers garner sympathy), my marital status (married, stepmother), and my family's resources (English speaking, positive relationships with police and lawyers, able to pay for private help), it does paint an interesting and eye opening picture. Throughout my research I've been primarily thinking about race and occupation as hinderances to media coverage, but I had not been thinking as much about age. 

At 37, I'm aging out of news coverage. While I would still likely get more media attention than a BIPOC woman my age or a BIPOC man, the idea that I'm "too old" for people to care about my hypothetical disappearance was jarring and raised questions for me about the role age can play in victim coverage. It also made me question the role that motherhood plays in coverage. While the calculator did not take that into consideration, the stories of middle aged women I hear about most often focuses on their role as mothers; implying that mothers are more sympathetic in the public's eye than childless women. The sexist undertones of that could be another research project entirely, but are at least worth noting here in my research.


]]> 2023-03-13 14:42:28 UTC https://padlet.com/caitlinmitchell7_1/yspaqwvbho5oczn0/wish/2514550411 caitlinmitchell7_1 https://padlet.com/caitlinmitchell7_1/yspaqwvbho5oczn0/wish/2514679509 Katie Robinson's article for the New York Times details the origins of the term "Missing White Woman Syndrome" (coined by late journalist Gwen Ifel) and critically analyzes the perpetuation of this media approach with the recent case of Gabby Petito.

According to Danielle Slakoff, an assistant professor at California State University Sacramento, not only do white women receive more initial coverage and repeated coverage, that coverage focuses their stories in a way that absolves them of their victimization.

Her analysis of news coverage demonstrates that in many stories "white women were typically depicted as good people, while women of color were often characterized as risk-takers or somehow complicit in their own disappearances."

She goes on to note that "'White victims tend to be portrayed as being in very safe environments, so it’s shocking that something like this could happen, whereas the Black and Latino victims are portrayed as being in unsafe environments, so basically normalizing victimization.'"

While one would be hard pressed to argue that Ms. Petito's disappearance should not be reported or investigated, it bears attention that some media outlets we, from their opening lines, hyper focusing on her race in their coverage. As Hakeem Jefferson, assistant professor of political science at Stanford University notes, one Washington Post article described Petito as a "'“blue-eyed, blonde adventure-seeker'" from their opening lines, details that, according to Jefferson, are not "pertinent to the story" and "'unnecessarily racializ[e]" the victim.

Multiple sources within the article reference the reasons behind the perpetuating cycle, but there does not appear to be an answer for the questions I still have. If we know this is a thing, how do battle back against it? How should the news media cover missing persons in a fairer way? Since it's impossible to cover all stories of missing persons or victims of violent crime, what metrics should be used for determining if a story gets news coverage?


]]> 2023-03-13 16:02:40 UTC https://padlet.com/caitlinmitchell7_1/yspaqwvbho5oczn0/wish/2514679509 caitlinmitchell7_1 https://padlet.com/caitlinmitchell7_1/yspaqwvbho5oczn0/wish/2514734259 As a means of pushing back against the "Missing White Woman Syndrome" coverage of Gabby Petito's murder, some true crime podcasts used their platforms to bring attention to  BIPOC women who have gone missing under similar circumstances or in the same area as Petito.

On My Favorite Murder, Georgia Hardstark worked to bring attention to the fact that between 2011 and 2020, "710 Indigenous people were reported missing across Wyoming, and that between 2000 and 2020, Indigenous homicide victims accounted for 21% of all homicides, though they make up only 3% of the state’s population" (as reported by Hallie Golden for The Guardian). Rather than provide more of the same coverage of Petito's case, Hardstark drew a through-line to the cases of three missing Indigenous women from the area in which Petito's body was found: Kaina Klomp, Amber Tuccaro, and Ella Mae Begay.

Similarly, while Ashley Flowers of Crime Junkie did provide some coverage of the Petito case, she married that coverage with the story of Lauren Cho, a young woman who walked away from the camper she and a male friend were staying in. She and the male friend had been arguing, and she walked away without her cell phone, food, or water. Her body was found about a month later in the Yucca Desert. Her case is still open.

Both episodes demonstrate a way in which some media outlets, in this case podcasts, can help advance stories of BIPOC individuals, but the lack of coverage for these stories is still problematic. These podcasts are sought out by people with an interest in the subject matter (true crime), and podcasters know they are speaking to a sympathetic audience. While their focus on lesser known stories is laudable, it does not challenge more mainstream news coverage to examine it's own biases or choices.

My Favorite Murder: Episode #296
Crime Junkie: Episode "Missing: Gabby Petito"]]> 2023-03-13 16:40:34 UTC https://padlet.com/caitlinmitchell7_1/yspaqwvbho5oczn0/wish/2514734259 caitlinmitchell7_1 https://padlet.com/caitlinmitchell7_1/yspaqwvbho5oczn0/wish/2514761437 The Knight Foundation's page on the importance of racial diversity in newsrooms speaks to one of the questions I have been coming back to in regards to media representation in true crimes: what can be done? 

While the article is not specifically about the missing persons or the victims of true crime, it highlights the racial disparities in most newsrooms and speaks to the way a homogenized group of gatekeepers can, either intentionally or inadvertently, can prevent stories about BIPOC individuals from getting the same coverage as stories about white individuals. 

More diverse representation in newsrooms and journalism programs could help change which stories are getting the most attention and air time.]]> 2023-03-13 16:58:16 UTC https://padlet.com/caitlinmitchell7_1/yspaqwvbho5oczn0/wish/2514761437