Media and Racism free essay sample

The Media only knows Money and Ratings Media programs like FOX have a problem with reporting murders and kidnappings of white, blonde, and blue eyed women only. The fact that news programs do not report all disappearances and murders equally is an issue. American minorities would like to know why. If you are informing the public of recent kidnappings and murders, you need to reach out to all ranges of society. The media’s way of reporting is bound to cause uproar with some of their viewers, and may begin to lose them. It is immortal and unethical to focus on the victimization of only the majority. According to Boyd, the media neglects the minority because it would reduce their ratings and views. Ratings for FOX and NBC seem to be more important than actual truthful reports. The news programs should be less concerned about ratings and more on their values and morals, because it is represented in what they report to their viewers. We will write a custom essay sample on Media and Racism or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page â€Å"This is a free country, yet people still believe they can take our freedoms away† (MrBrianBeach). So FOX and NBC keeping murder and disappearance for society is like taking our rights to know about cases of missing and murdered people. Sardou 2 Viewers should have the possibility to decide which report they are interested in, and which to be informed on. Nevadastatecollege on youtube. com explains that mainstream media adds too much of a disproportionate amount of media coverage compared to how likely these white women are to be victims. The percentages are a lot larger than the norm. Making white women believe they are the main targets for criminals, which is statistically proven incorrect. White women are 7% less likely to be part of domestic violence, and 9% of them live in safer neighborhoods than non-white women. White women take part in less than 8. 6% of non-violent crimes compared to 3. 6% that are involved in violent crimes. This still only makes up 29 percent of crimes done by women. The fact mainstream media is leaving out the poor and the minority is racist. News should be for all ranges of society and not only focused around upper class whites. Boyd believes that the news programs like to concentrate their reports on the higher class and higher educated citizens solely in hopes of receiving better ratings for their television programs. I think people focus mainly on white racism, because it affects people the most. Whether we like it or not, white people still greatly control this country. White people still have the upper hand in many situations, and therefore white racism is more prominent in our lives. Although the face of the missing in America is typically overwhelmingly white and blonde, people of color account for a full 40 percent of all missing-persons cases, and African-Americans make up a staggering share of those non-white cases. Sardou 3 According to FBI statistics, 273,985 people of color were reported missing in the United States in 2010. In eight of 10 of those cases, the victims were black (Latour Francie). If blacks make up such a substantial number of missing cases, why aren’t they not reported on the most? This leaves the argument that the media has a problem against colored Americans. Also we must confront that there still is some racism in America. For example an incident that happened in Linden NJ, two Mexican immigrants walked into a deli store to order some coffee and sandwiches. But rather than getting served, they got hit with insults hurled at them from the clerk behind the counter. Their broken-English request for food was met with a barrage of racist remarks, including, Get back in your pickup truck with the rest of your family. In the face of discrimination, many of the bystanders seemed immobilized, some too stunned to react. After being turned away by the cashier, one of the day laborers asked a nearby customer for help. She suggested that he try another store down the street. Many other customers had a similar reaction, quietly walking away after being solicited to help. That is surprising that someone would be able to witness this problem and not address the situation. The way the victims were treated is unjust and cruel. Americans need to speak their mind when disrespectful behavior is seen around them; it might help diminish racism in an America. Let’s identity Missing White Women Syndrome and maybe even end it. The name MWWS is was given by Sheri Parks, a professor of American studies at the University of Maryland (Cooper). The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children estimates that each year roughly 58,000 children are the victims of nonfamily abductions. Sardou 4 Of those, about 65 percent involved children of color. It is a reality that does not square with the victims who have attained iconic status among the missing (Latour Francie). Minorities’ not getting equal coverage and yet being involved in more than half of the disappearances seems very unethical on the part of mainstream media. MWWS: is it racism or realism? The news cannot cover every murder, but ignoring them all or reporting just statistics seems irresponsible. So how should the media decide whose life or loss is covered (Cooper). First, giving cases too much coverage time such as Natalee Holloway, Lori Hacking, and Laci Peterson is not fair to the families and friends of the other victims, who have not been given any coverage time. The story of Natalee Ann Holloway, born on October 21, 1986 was a teenage girl that just graduated from Mountain Brook High School on May 24, 2005. Shortly after went on a graduation vacation to Aruba with the school. During the trip Natalee happened to have gone missing. The FBI at first had no information on her, and her whereabouts. After some investigating the police found that she had been a foliated with Joran van der Sloot. She was last seen by her classmates outside Carlosn Charlies. Later that year Joran van der Sloot was sent to a prison in Peru for the murder of Stephanie Flores. After hundreds of volunteers and search parties had no result of Natalee or her body they slowly gave up, except for Dave and Beth Holloway who are Natalee’s parents. They went high school to high school preaching about save traveling and buddy systems. Also having Natalee’s case on the news none stop. Sardou 5 It has been 6 years since her disappearance on May 30, 2005. Unfortunately Natalee has probably been murdered but yet her story is still being covered and maybe replacing other needed reports. Lori Kay Soares Hacking was born on December 31, 1976, from Salt Lake City. She was reported missing by her husband, and the search earned national attention. After numerous searches nd nothing showing up, her husband Mark Hacking on April 15, 2005 pleaded guilty to the murder of his wife. Due to this case on March 20, 2006, Utah House Bill 102 also called Loris Law, passed. The bill increases the minimum penalty for a person convicted of first degree murder in Utah to fifteen years to life. Laci Denise Peterson born on May 4, 1975 from Modesto, California was an American woman who went missing on December 23, 2002. Her case switched to a highl y discussed murder case after she went missing while seven and a half months pregnant with her first child. Peterson was reportedly last seen alive on December 24, 2002. Her husband, Scott Peterson, was later convicted of murder in the first degree for Laci, and in the second degree for their prenatal son. Scott Peterson is currently on death row at San Quentin State Prison. The cases the media tends to focus on and provide more coverage of are those involving a white female, who is relatively young, middle class and conventionally attractive. For murder or missing person’s case, time and media coverage is important. It could lead to someone coming forward and a killer being found, or the victim being found. Sardou 6 The Sohman murders generated an amount of 898 newspaper articles in under weeks, yet Hannah Williams who went missing around the same time only generated a total of 62 articles. It is suggested that the Sohmans fulfill the criteria of being a model middle-class school, while Willaims is a girl with a working class background with a stud in her nose did not. A police spokesperson described Williams’ mother as â€Å"not really press conference material†, and the Sohman parents continued to dominate the newspaper headlines. William’s case was forgotten by the news media almost immediately cause to poor news coverage. Another example of Missing White Women Syndrome is the murder of Latoya Figeroa and the disappearance of Natalee Holloway. The media provided saturation coverage of Natalee;s disappearance, but very little about Latoya, who was of American-American and Hispanic descent. More than a month after she had been missing, Latoya’s body was discovered. She had been 5 months pregnant. Another example is that of Jessica Lynch and Lori Piestewa. Jessica Lynch was heavily covered by the media, but Loir Piestewa was virtually ignored even though she died in an attack while fighting with the army in Iraq. Media critics suggest that Lynch’s story was promoted because she was more â€Å"palatable† and â€Å"identifiable† figure. Another case of Missing White Women Syndrome is the disappearance of Shelton Sanders. Despite being a high-achieving college student with a father who is a country magistrate, 25 year old Shelton’s case received little attention expect in his hometown of Rembert. Meanwhile the disappearance of fellow USC, Dail Dinwiddie, has continued to receive Sardou 7 ational attention more than a dozen years after she vanished in 1992. Although Shelton’s body has not yet been found, police have gathered more evidence and have charged a suspect in his murder. These are all terrible and unfortunate tragedies, but the media needs to cover all cases fairly to try and help as man people and families as possible. My condolences go to the family and friends of all the victims, but back to the rumors of Missing White Women Syndrome, these reports took and replaced many other stories of people who went missing that could have used the extra coverage time as well. Nevadastatecollege touches on how white women are not particularly the targets of crimes or criminals, but white women are the primary targets of fear-based propaganda and marketing. The disappointing part is it that â€Å"Not only the US but also the United Kingdom and Germany are having issues with Missing White Women Syndrome† (MrBrianBeach). So this issue of not giving minorities equal cover time is universal in predominantly white society. Mainstream media is having an issue with giving too much coverage on murder and missing cases of the majority. If you are informing the public of recent kidnappings and murders, you need to reach out to all ranges of society. The media can fix the problem just by simply giving minority murder and missing cases equally coverage time