There is an Amber Alert out for a missing 12 year old Bradenton girl, she disappeared from a motel where she was staying, they think she's with a man who was aquainted with her brothers. Funny thing is, while the Jessica Lunsford and Sarah Lundy Amber Alerts were plastered across all of the national media sources from the moment they were issued, CNN.com has nothing on their front page and Foxnews.com has just a little link in the sidebar. The things that seem to be a difference is that a) the guy they think took her is not a registered sex offender and b) she's hispanic instead of a photogenic white girl. If either of those factors have to do with why this is not as big a story (the guy not being a sex offender doesn't fit in with the current storyline), then there's a problem. At the moment, it seems like the media, outside of the local media, doesn't care nearly as much about a young girl from a migrant family disappearing from the motel where she had been living with her brothers than they would have under other circumstances, and that's not right. Maybe that's not the case, and I'll withold any further judgement until I see how this unfolds further, but if anything, this should be a bigger national story because it's believed that the guy may be heading out of state with her, and people need to be watching.
Posted by kathryn at Abril 27, 2005 04:52 AM | TrackBackYou're right on target. I've worked in a newsroom, and I can attest to the fact that stories like this get passed over all of the time for reasons very much like the ones you listed.
Posted by: R at Abril 27, 2005 11:58 AM