I've never, not even once, seen a story spiked because the victim was not attractive enough or the wrong race. But I've seen plenty of stories fall by the wayside, pushed down and out of the show, because a consensus develops that says, "You know, I don't think our viewers are very interested in this case." Is that racism or realism?
The most egregious case of missing pretty white woman syndrome is not the blonde in Aruba or the drowned wife in California, but Pvt. Jessica Lynch, captured in Iraq. A pretty, blue-eyed blonde in uniform, the Barbie soldier, didn't just get obsessive news coverage, she got a full-scale rescue mission, which almost killed the Iraqi doctors who were helping her.
What was not obsessively covered, what was barely mentioned, was that Spc. Shoshana Johnson was also captured that day. She fought back, was injured, and also later rescued. When she returned to the States, she was discharged on disability. She is solid and gracious in interviews, and defends Lynch from falsehoods that have been told about what she did and said.
Why isn't she famous, too? She's black, and not half as cute as Jessica Lynch.
Is that racism or realism? It's racism.
7 comments:
Agreed. Most of "television news" is an oxymoron. They have to run pictures, so they pick pretty ones. I would ban missing persons stories unless the person were head of state or could bring one down.
There is many stuff wrong with the news. It's more of a fabrication than anything else.
The "Missing White Women" story is on Anderson's blog, but he didn't actually write the piece. CNN correspondent Tom Foreman wrote it.
Thanks for the correction.
News is a cash cow, not a golden one, and those who think that television news in America bows down to anything other than the dollar are seriously delusioned or have never turned on a television.
So why are only missing white women news?
Samoabob:
WORD.
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