Moody, M, Dorries, B., & Blackwell, H. (2009). How National Media Framed Coverage of Missing Black and White Women. Media Report to Women.
By Mia Moody, Bruce Dorries and Harriett Blackman
Building on feminist and race theories, this content and textual analysis argues that race, class and factors such as attractiveness and youthfulness function as unfair criteria in the determination of newsworthiness in black and mainstream coverage of missing women. Findings revealed troubling evidence that news coverage routinely overlooks stories of missing black women. More specifically, the paper finds that news coverage of missing white women is more prominent, detailed, and sensationalized than news about missing black women. Self-criticism of this disparity in coverage became a debate carried out in both black and mainstream news outlets; however, the trend continues. This topic is of concern since media’s reliance on a patriarchal representation of the world that values women based on their class, race, age, looks and body size is detrimental to everybody.
Introduction
When Tamika Huston, 24, a black woman, vanished from Spartanburg, S., in May 2004, her story received no coverage from national news networks. In contrast, one month later when white victim Lori Hacking disappeared, her picture appeared on the news in a matter of days. Huston’s case did not gain exposure until March of 2005, almost a year later when FOX network’s America’s Most Wanted reported her missing. Other missing persons who made national headlines during the 2000s included Laci Peterson, Elizabeth Smart, Chandra Levy, Dru Sjodin, Lori Hacking, Jennifer Wilbanks and Natalie Holloway. In addition to tragic stories, these women shared a common profile: hite, attractive, young and middle-class. Conspicuously absent from headline news during the same time were women of color, especially black women.
Huston’s story reflects the inequitable exposure of missing black women granted by the national news. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, National Crime Information Center (NCIC), there are 50,930 active missing adult cases in the United States as of January 31, 2007. Although the site does not make distinctions about missing persons by race, sex, or demographics, clearly people vanish everyday in the United States, which lessens such stories’ news value. Yet the aforementioned cases of white women surfaced in the national media and remained there for months, even years, while missing women of color went unnoticed. The assumption, backed by media ratings, is that white viewers may not connect with stories unless they see themselves as possible victims (Kane, 2004). PBS journalist Gwen Ifill referred to the phenomenon as "The Missing White Woman Syndrome" at the Unity Convention of Journalists in 2004 (Johnson, 2005). Conservative commentator Michelle Malkin referred to this trend in June of 2005 as "missing pretty girl syndrome" and "damsel in distress syndrome" (Malkin, 2005).
Although there have been many studies of the press’ coverage of minority-related issues (Berry & Manning-Miller, 1996; Dates & Barlow, 1993; Gandy, 1998; Martindale, 1990), the topic of missing women is a fairly new phenomenon not covered much in scholarly research. This study draws upon feminist and race paradigms to study Black press and mainstream media representations of missing women to assess the ways, and to what effect, these signifiers of exclusion and domination play out in the media.
Examining how the coverage of missing black women compares with that of white women is an important undertaking. Newspaper articles provide historical content that researchers may use to analyze trends in the reporting of class, race and gender. Furthermore, media help citizens make sense of the world around them, especially for depictions of people of different backgrounds. Consequently, media treatment of an issue may foster the patterns of discrimination operating against women in society (Ceulemans and Fauconnier, 1979; Gallagher, 1981; Tuchman, 1978).
Also worth noting, media attention can affect how local authorities handle a case. Victims who receive national attention inevitably receive more aid from local and national police and investigative teams. Therefore, journalists do a disservice by misleading the public about “typical” victims (Memmott, 2005).
Review of the Literature
Entman (1993) defined framing when people select “some aspects of a perceived reality and make them more salient in a communicating text, in such a way as to promote a particular problem definition, causal interpretation, moral evaluation, and/or treatment recommendation” (p. 52). As a macroconstruct, the term "framing" refers to modes of presentation that journalists and other communicators use to present information in a way that resonates with existing underlying schemas among their audience (Shoemaker & Reese, 1996).
The framing body of work shows that socioeconomic status, race, and education can make a difference in how reporters frame certain issues. This is of significance, according to Gans (1979), because the majority of journalists come from an upper-middle to upper-class background, which he asserts is a distinctly white perspective. Van Dijk (1997) adds that, ‘‘News is largely produced by White journalists who have grown up with a set of dominant White group norms and values, which tend to define an overall White perspective on news events’’ (p. 245).
The coverage of ethnic groups demonstrates the manner in which dominant framing of “other” cultural and political groups within national boundaries has been negative and stereotypical (Martindale, 1990; Bagdikian, 1969; Entman, 1992; Dates & Barlow, 1993). Most of those studies point to the “invisibility” of minority communities in the news and of the prevalence of stereotypes in the news that are covered.
Black Press Vs. Mainstream Media
The American Heritage Dictionary defines mainstream as representing the prevalent attitudes, values, and practices of a society or group. Mainstream media denotes news outlets that produce content specifically conceived and designed to reach and appeal to a large audience. Conversely, black press includes newspapers and magazines aimed at black readers that speak to their issues. According to Dates and Barlow (1993), prior to the creation of the black press, many Blacks believed they had no voice in the mainstream press unless their views mirrored those of the dominant culture. Although instances of overt racism appear to be few, studies show that black and general press outlets report stories differently.
Researchers of race and media have consistently found that, particularly since the 1980s, mainstream media portrayals of racial groups, racial policy issues, and racial crises reinforce both racial stereotypes of racial groups, racial policy issues, and conservative views on race (Squires, 2007). Additionally, black press and general press coverage of several black news stories have differed. For example, Ratzlaff and Iorio (1994) found that while black and mainstream newspaper types often focused on the same issues, they did not use the same frames. Klein and Naccarto (2003) found that media used more negative references for African Americans than did they did for Caucasians. The researchers attributed such distortions in local television news coverage to a lack of context in crime stories reported. Lule (1995) uncovered similar findings in his study of how the media portrayed Mike Tyson during his rape trial. Lule noted that African-American writers brought a different point of view to the story, reflecting the idea that the African-American community sympathized with Tyson, while showing little sympathy for his accuser.
Other researchers have assessed similar findings in studies on the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings, the 1992 Los Angeles riots following the Rodney King verdict and the O.J. Simpson murder trial. These cases showed that reductive, degrading conceptions of race are firmly entrenched in press portrayals (Dates and Barlow, 1993).
For feminist theorists, there is no dispute that media function ideologically, working with other social and cultural institutions to reflect, reinforce and mediate existing power relations and ideas about how gender is and should be lived (Enrique’s, 2001). Such media coverage often follows the patriarchal paradigm as outlined by Hartmann (1981),who defines the model as a set of materially based social relations that create a solidarity among men of all races and classes “who are united in their shared relationship of dominance over their women” (1981, p. 14-15).
Many feminist studies have found media often represent women stereotypically as passive, submissive and dependent (Van Zoonen, 1996; Carter & Steiner, 2003). Van Zoonen explained that the differences fulfill the structural needs of a patriarchal and capitalist society by reinforcing gender differences and inequalities, while others assert that sexist images reproduced by the media make hierarchical and distorted sex-role stereotypes appear normal. Van Zoonen (1994) summarizes this “transmission model” as a media reflection on society’s dominant social values that symbolically belittles women, either by not showing them at all, or by depicting them in stereotypical roles (p. 17).
Physical appearance plays a prominent role in media coverage of women. The “ideal of female beauty in this country puts a premium on lightness and softness mythically associated with White women and downplays the rich stylistic manners associated with Black women” (West, 2001, p. 130).
Media, Race, Class and Hierarchy
Early feminist theory emphasized the commonalities of women’s oppression, neglecting profound differences between women in terms of class, age, sexuality, religion, race and nation. Black feminists argue one cannot conceive black women’s experience of various issues as separable from their experience of racism (Hooks, 1981); Moraga and Anzaldúa (1981) evoked the concepts of “interlocking identities” and “interlocking oppressions.” For instance, women of color do not experience sexism in addition to racism, but sexism in the context of racism. Therefore, they bear an altogether different burden from that of white women. Additionally, Patricia Collins (1986) argues that “intersecting oppressions” put black women in a marginalized place in society different fromither white women or black men. For example, in the U.S. sports media, women of color receive considerably less coverage than their white female counterparts receive and the depictions are racially stereotyped. The absence of minority women supports the traditional belief that sports are solely for white, heterosexual, non-disabled women (Schell, 1999).
Black feminist theorists also argue that stereotypes of Black women reflect the junction of male and white supremacist ideologies (Benedict, 1992; Meyers, 2007). These include the sexually promiscuous black woman, the oversexed-black-Jezebel, the mammy, the welfare cheat, and the overachieving black woman who emasculates the black males in her life (Collins, 1986) For example, in her analysis of local television coverage of the Freaknik Festival, Meyers (2004) indicated violence against women became newsworthy when a camera located in the area of the violence taped it. Meyers noted, “by positioning the harassment of these women against the gyrations of a woman who appears to be welcoming and encouraging male attention and desire, the story suggest that violence against black women is the result of female provocation” (p.106).
Contemporary social theorists view class identity as complex and contradictory, reflecting, “multiple class positions that individuals can occupy at different moments in their lives” (Gandy, 1998, p. 26). From a feminist perspective, Hooks (1992) emphasized that media institutionalize white and male supremacist ideologies, which produce “specific images, representations of race, of Blackness that support and maintain the oppression, exploitation and overall domination of all Black people” (p. 2).
Furthermore, Wood (1993) applied standpoint logic to the field of communication, arguing that different locations within the social hierarchy affect what is seen. The standpoint of marginalized people provides less false views of the world than do the privileged perspectives of the powerful. While feminist standpoint theory more generally “advocates that knowledge production and validation should be grounded in one’s everyday life, and especially the everyday lives of the oppressed” (Griffin, 1996, p. 181); the self-defined standpoint of black women provides the foundation of black feminist thought (Collins, 1986). The most commonly covered rape story contained the scenario of Caucasian female victim with an African-American male perpetrator. These stories, which proved statistically inaccurate, reflected and perpetuated the attitude that Caucasian women are more valuable than African-American women.
These tendencies transfer to coverage of missing women. For instance, Liebler (2004) studied examples in which class differences appear in the media’s coverage of two California college students, Kristin Smart and April Gregory, who both went missing over the same weekend. Kristin, who was white and from an upper middle-class background, received a great deal of media attention. On the other hand, April, an African-American student at Syracuse University, received very little media coverage. Her school failed to publicize her disappearance. Liebler noted that one stark difference between the two young women, besides race, was class; while Kristin was a principal’s daughter, April worked at a McDonald’s. Liebler argues middle class missing women have media-savvy parents that can help to shape the media’s portrayal of their daughters, resulting in inequitable media treatment across class lines. Furthermore, media outlets do not consider poor women and women of color newsworthy.
In her study mentioned earlier, Meyers (2004) also argued coverage reinforced race and class stereotypes by representing locals as underclass troublemakers prone to crime. On the other hand, the media portrayed students as law-abiding people with middle-class values and norms. Likewise, Reimers (2007) found that media articulate class and ethnicity together such that perpetrators with a low social position tend to be perceived as culturally alien, regardless of their ethnic background (Reimers, 2007). This became apparent in media representations of a woman accused of pushing her 3-year-old son off a bridge. The media represented her in terms of inadequate femininity and social class. Throughout articles, the media emphasized she belonged to the unskilled working classwas divorced, lived with a man with a suspected criminal background, had recently an abortion, and has had cosmetic breast surgery (Reimers, 2007).
Research Questions
RQ1 – What type of prominence, length, and language did mainstream media give stories about black and white missing women?
RQ2 –How do black and mainstream media outlets cover the stories of missing women?
RQ3– How was class, race and gender covered at both outlet types?
RQ4 –What themes emerged from the framing of such stories?
Methodology:
Researchers found it impossible to include all women relevant to this study; therefore, they studied the reported cases of four missing women: Laci Peterson, 27; Lori Hacking, 27; Tamika Huston, 24; and LaToyia Figueroa, 24. Each of their cases reached beyond local coverage and occurred at different times from 2002 to 2005. Laci Peterson and Lori Hacking were perhaps two of the most discussed and analyzed women during this period. Tamika Huston and LaToyia Figueroa were perhaps the most publicized missing black women. Also of interest, three of the four women were pregnant. Cheng and Horon (2001) found that homicide among pregnant women causes a greater interest in stories. Furthermore, the suspect accused in each of these cases was a husband or lover.
This paper examined news coverage of missing women through content and textual analysis. Researchers chose a mixed methods approach because a content analysis, especially when linked to more qualitative kinds of analysis, can be invaluable in moving beyond the analyst’s somewhat subjective observations. Quantitative research by itself can identify what works, but has limited explanatory power. On the other hand, qualitative research provides “rich information” that is subjective and cannot be generalized (Condelli & Heide, 2004). By combining the two methods, research becomes more “rigorous” as the quantitative method tells “what works” while the qualitative method gives insight into “how it works” (Condelli & Heide, 2004, p. 2).
For this particular study, the content analysis provided the framework for understanding the way in which television news reported missing women. The textual analysis revealed the underlying social messages embedded within the news. Using both content and thematic analysis for this study offers a look beyond the surface of the reported stories of missing women-together, they reveal the underlying messages and narratives the news sends viewers about missing women.
Content Analysis
To address the question, “What type of prominence, length, and language did mainstream media give stories about black and white missing women?” a student coded 40 news transcripts and newspaper articles retrieved using LexisNexis for USA Today, Washington Post, NBC and CBS networks. All four are elite news outlets with power and influence over other media. Furthermore, The Washington Post and US Today were ideal papers to evaluate because they circulate throughout all fifty states, while NBC and CBS are major networks with a large number of viewers.
To make the research manageable, the researchers confined the study to newspaper articles and transcripts released one month after Peterson and Hacking went missing and an unlimited time span for Huston and Figueroa, who had few articles and transcripts printed about their cases. The sample included five transcripts and five newspaper articles on each woman from each network and newspaper, resulting in 40 texts in total.
The physical units of the texts, such as the number and length of the transcript, distinguished prominence of the story. One of the more important areas of framing is sizing/emphasis or perceived importance of the issue. The essence of framing according to Entman (1991) is sizing, or to what extent a communicator magnifies or miniaturizes any depicted reality and thus, makes it more or less significant. According to previous studies, one can assess the event’s importance by how much material is available and its prominence. Graber (1988) noted that readers of traditional newspapers use importance cues such as location, visual size, and story length provided by editors to guide their decisions in selecting news articles. Therefore, if coverage of one subject was found to have one transcript with 1,600 words as opposed to another subject’s story transcript with 40 words, it was noteworthy. Analysis of the data using the categories is summed up using descriptive statistics shown in tables. Two tables display the findings, one for each of the areas of comparison: prominence and length.
Textual Analysis
To address the paper’s research question, which asked, “how do black and mainstream presses cover the stories of missing women?” the study looked at both broadcast and print outlets because news consumers tend to consult print news for the details, whereas broadcast news provides the broad strokes. Broadcast outlet types are of concern because they may have different slants in their coverage of major issues and more people turn to cable news than newspapers.
The primary researcher read articles multiple times and highlighted code words and themes. Researchers refer to this process as open coding. Cycling through data, the researcher was able to see similarities and differences in the articles and keep track of thematic elements. The contexts provided by the individual article connect to journalistic conventions and historical, political and cultural information (Squires, 2007). After compiling the sub-themes, an emergent pattern emerged, which provides the evidence for an argument about the nature of news media coverage of missing women.
To obtain a sample, researchers used LexisNexis and Ethnicnews to retrieve articles using the key words, “LaToyia Figueroa,” “Lori Hacking,” “Tamika Huston” and “Laci Peterson.” Mainstream media were CNN, FOX and USA Today, which had more transcripts and articles on the topic than other news outlets. These news outlets also have great reach and potential to affect the world. There were two USA Today newspaper articles, five FOX News transcripts and five CNN transcripts. The USA Today articles were approximately 500 to 600 words and ran inside the publication. Many of the CNN transcripts ran on Nancy Grace’s segment on missing women, while many of the FOX News transcripts ran in “On the Record with Greta Van Susteren.” In general, the length of these transcripts was not revealing, as many of the segments did not focus exclusively on missing women.
Black news outlets were Philadelphia Tribune, Chicago Defender and Essence Magazine, which are among the elite in black press publications. There were six articles total: one from Essence, three from Philadelphia Tribune and two from the Chicago Defender. In general, the Black press articles were 500 to 800 words in length, and they usually appeared inside the publication. Black press outlets such as Jet, BET and Ebony did not include articles about missing black women, which limited our sample.
In sum, the content analysis section of the paper looked specifically at mainstream outlets to establish frames and the disparity in coverage of black women, while the textual analysis looked at a broader spectrum of news outlets.
Content Analysis: Mainstream Media
Determining Prominence
Research question one asked, “What type of prominence and length did mainstream media give stories about black and white missing women?” Each transcript for missing White women was compared and coded for the number of transcripts from each news organization, the quantity of words used by each organization for each woman.
The combined number of transcripts was 738; however, only 1.2% (n = 9) of all the transcripts found were about black subjects. The five transcripts for Huston were found outside of the first month of the being reported missing period on which the study intended to focus. On the other hand, Figueroa’s four transcripts were found during the stated period.
Table 1: Number of transcripts found
| <><><><><><><>
| <><><><><><><>
| <><><><><><><>
| <><><><><><><>
| <><><><><><><>
| <><><><><><><> CBS | <><><><><><><> NBC | <><><><><><><> Post | <><><><><><><> Today | <><><><><><><> Total | <><><><><><><>
Peterson (W) | <><><><><><><> 304 | <><><><><><><> 237 | <><><><><><><> 19 | <><><><><><><> 37 | <><><><><><><> 597 | <><><><><><><>
Hacking (W) | <><><><><><><> 64 | <><><><><><><> 58 | <><><><><><><> 4 | <><><><><><><> 6 | <><><><><><><> 131 | <><><><><><><>
Huston (B) | <><><><><><><> 1 | <><><><><><><> 2 | <><><><><><><> 0 | <><><><><><><> 2 | <><><><><><><> 5 | <><><><><><><>
Figueroa (B) | <><><><><><><> 4 | <><><><><><><> 0 | <><><><><><><> 0 | <><><><><><><> 0 | <><><><><><><> 4 | <><><><><><><>
In contrast, a substantial number of transcripts were counted from each news organization for Peterson during the first month of her disappearance. The transcripts found for Hacking were more than 50% less than Peterson. However, in comparison to coverage of Huston or Figueroa, the number of transcripts about Hacking proved more than 80% greater. In all, each organization had transcripts for the two white women; CBS, NBC, and USA Today had transcripts for Huston but only CBS had transcripts for Figueroa.
Table 2: Number of words in chosen sample (47 transcripts)
| <><><><><><><>
| <><><><><><><>
| <><><><><><><>
| <><><><><><><>
| <><><><><><><> CBS | <><><><><><><> NBC | <><><><><><><> Today | <><><><><><><> Post | <><><><><><><> Total | <><><><><><><>
Peterson (W) | <><><><><><><> 855 | <><><><><><><> 2292 | <><><><><><><> 4090 | <><><><><><><> 3288 | <><><><><><><> 10525* | <><><><><><><>
Hacking (W) | <><><><><><><> 1867 | <><><><><><><> 1211 | <><><><><><><> 2572 | <><><><><><><> 1326 | <><><><><><><> 6976* | <><><><><><><>
Huston (B) | <><><><><><><> 619 | <><><><><><><> 2082 | <><><><><><><> 1642 | <><><><><><><> 0 | <><><><><><><> 4343* | <><><><><><><>
Figueroa (B) | <><><><><><><> 716 | <><><><><><><> 0 | <><><><><><><> 0 | <><><><><><><> 0 | <><><><><><><> 716 | <><><><><><><>
To evaluate length of articles about women, 47 transcripts were coded, 5 for Huston, 4 for Figueroa, 19 for Peterson, and 19 for Hacking. Peterson and Hacking originally had 20 transcripts each. Table 2 draws attention to the number of words in the chosen sample for each woman to compare the length of the coverage. Consistent with the trend in the number of transcripts found (shown in Table 1), overall there were more words used in the stories about the white women, Peterson and Hacking, than the black women, Huston and Figueroa. One interesting finding between the black subjects was that CBS used more words for Figueroa (n = 716) than Huston (n = 619), but Figueroa had 75% more CBS transcripts (n = 4) than Huston (n = 1). This discovery suggests that the four CBS transcripts for Figueroa were vague if they only differed with Huston’s sole transcript by 97 words.
Also worth noting, a significant portion of the words in all of Huston’s transcripts had several references to both Peterson and Hacking. Within the introduction of one of Huston’s NBC transcripts the amount of time news organizations dedicated to missing white women was mentioned. Although references were made to draw attention to the amount of coverage Peterson and Hacking received when Huston received little, the moment the transcript referred to the white women the remainder of the transcript focused on them and not Huston, the original subject. Because of this shift in the transcripts about Huston, it would be accurate to record the total number of words (n = 4343), marked with an asterisk, and to add more words to both the Peterson (n = 10,525) and Hacking (n = 6,976) categories. Consequently, this finding suggests that news coverage of missing white women was longer than that for missing black women.
Textual Analysis: Black & Mainstream Media
Class and Media Coverage
Research question three asked, “How did class, race and gender manifest themselves in both outlet types?” The media’s treatment of race provided some interesting insight. In 1999, Gans suggested that there is a strong possibility that the multiracial hierarchy that presently exists will morph into a bimodal structure with two primary groups, black and non-black. Gans further argued the increasingly voluntary nature of racial identification in the United States might facilitate the eventual adoption of white identity. This was true in the coverage of missing women. Media outlets divided coverage of the four women in categories of black or white, opting not to explore these victims’ multiracial roots.
For example, the media only discussed Figueroa’s black/African-American heritage although she was biracial with Hispanic heritage. Similarly, Peterson was multiracial; her maiden name was Rocha, which is a common Hispanic surname. Hacking’s race and ethnicity also proved challenging. Her parents adopted her, and although media identified her as White, her adopted father, Eraldo Soares, was from Brazil. To reflect her diverse heritage, Hacking’s family removed her married name from her headstone, and added the Portuguese word "filhinha," which means "little daughter” (Hancock, 2004).
There was a general template for how the press talked about missing women but it differed based on the victim’s race and class. Mainstream press coverage of white women often included interviews of relatives and friends of the victim, a description of her neighborhood and the person’s personality. On the other hand, black and mainstream coverage of missing black women usually focused on the disparity in coverage, the person’s dismal circumstances and the past of the victim’s abusive mate. For example, an Aug. 18, 2005, transcript on FOX on the Record with Greta Van Susteren included 1,728 words on the search for Figueroa. Van Susteren discussed the evidence surrounding the case and interviewed Poaches’ attorney who retraced Figueroa’s steps the day she vanished. He gave details of the doctor’s visit and the few hours after the visit. The story also discussed problems the two had had with a co-pay during the office visit and subsequent searches of his place that did not turn up evidence for the case.
Although the media did not covertly cover class in its analysis of missing victims, one can read between the lines. Indicators such as occupations, homeownership and neighborhood descriptions helped determine their social standing. For example, Lori and Mark Hacking were most likely middle-class: She was an assistant securities trader at a brokerage house, while he was a hospital orderly. Scott and Laci Peterson were middle-class as ascertained from their occupations: Laci was a former substitute teacher and Scott was a fertilizer sales clerk. Many articles described Laci and Scott as attractive, middle-class people. Police Chief Jeffrey Ian Ross, who handled the case, described the Peterson neighborhood as relatively wealthy or well to do. Coverage also focused on a robbery across the street in which someone apparently stole thousands of dollars of jewelry and a couple of handguns.
Conversely, LaToyia Figueroa and Tamika Huston were most likely lower to middle- class. Figueroa was the single mother of a 7-year-old daughter and was five months pregnant at the time of her death. Prior to her disappearance, Figueroa had a solid work record at a Center City restaurant. Her class was also alluded to by a description of her father. Media described Mr. Figuero as an out-of-work craftsman whose business cards read "Melvin the Carpenter.”
Simone Weichselbaum, a reporter for the Philadelphia Daily News discussed Figueroa’s tough life growing up in a harsh neighborhood in Philadelphia on Greta Van Susteren’s July 18, 2005 show. He said LaToyia was about four years old when someone slit her mother’s throat (Van Susteren, 2005). Similarly, comments by Richard Blair of Philadelphia, who launched a drive for the reward fund through his blog, allspinzone.com, alluded to her impoverished background:I just didn't feel that this story had been given any publicity—young, Black woman out of the ghetto. I want them to know that there's people out there thinking about them.”
Signifiers of Huston’s class were revealed in statements about joblessness and the fact that she was unmarried at the time she went missing from the Washington D.C. area. Because she was unemployed, one might assume she was lower class. Essence magazine, (Zook & Dinyer, 2005) described Huston as “an aspiring poet and children’s activist,” whom one of her literature professors at Converse College called, “the Next Maya Angelou.”
Media Frames
Research question three asked, “What other frames emerged from the framing of such stories and how might researchers make sense of such frames?” The frames that emerged were “pretty, young victim,” “good wife, good daughter,” “lost potential,” “husbands and lovers” and “media’s lack of coverage of black women.”
Pretty/Young Victim
Photos of victims with their mates at social outings, smiling gaily for the camera were staples on nightly newscasts during the investigation into their cases. Laci Peterson is perhaps the best example of this frame. During her disappearance, particularly the early phases, newscasts frequently flashed pictures of the 27-year-old wearing her holiday best. Her glossy hair, big dimples, and huge smile were often the lead topic in newscasts about the missing mother-to-be. Peterson’s sister-in-law described her dimples and her permanent smile. Due to her attractiveness, the media gave the Peterson tragedy the type of coverage usually reserved for more newsworthy stories such as war.
Hacking’s looks were prominently displayed in articles as well. FOX example, articles included descriptions of her as “the pretty young Utah housewife.” On a July 20, 2004 segment of On The Record With Greta Van Susteren on FOX News, her mother, Thelma Soares, described her in the following manner “wherever Lori goes, she turns heads. She is such a beautiful young woman that since she was about 16, every time I walked into a restaurant or anywhere else with her, every male head in the place turned around to look at her. So I don't know if that's stalking or not, but...” (Van Susteren, 2004).
While not as prominent, black media also included the beauty frame. In Essence magazine, Zook and Dinyer (2005) described Huston as “a hometown beauty queen with little-girl tresses” that her father used to plait himself.
In addition to being white, a woman’s age played a major factor in whether she received media attention. Most transcripts for the white women mentioned the age of the women, both 27 years old, although less than half did not, using instead the phrase “young woman” as a substitute. The vast majority of the transcripts about black women drew attention to their age; both were 24 years old. Good Wife, Mother and Daughter
Findings indicate that the mainstream media were more likely to portray white women as the good wife, mother or daughter. For example, on the Dec. 28, 2002, “Saturday Early Show,” Chief Roy Wasden of the Modesto Police Department described the Peterson family in this manner: “This is a wonderful family. It’s a nightmare for the family, for Laci’s parents, for Scott’s parents. It—it’s just devastating to the—to the family and the community.” During the interviews with Peterson’s parents, reporters encouraged them to talk about Peterson’s normative behavior. Reporter allowed her parents to describe Peterson with no interruptions.
Findings were similar for Hacking’s coverage; however, the media placed a stronger emphasis on understanding her relationship with her husband who police suspected in her disappearance. In one line, Lori Hacking is referred to as “daughter,” “daughter-in-law,” “missing woman,” “Salt Lake City resident,” and “jogger.” As with Peterson, the details of her family life and her personal hobbies allowed readers to learn personal information outside of her name and location.
Coverage was different for black missing women. Reporters usually interviewed the family members of missing black women in response to media attention garnered due to their lack of coverage. As a result, the interview usually focused on community activism and not the missing person’s character or moral standing. For example, journalists interviewed Huston’s aunt and father for their efforts to get media attention for their loved one’s case. Huston’s aunt mentioned briefly Huston’s disappearance as “out of her character.” However, the reporter focused primarily on how the aunt had worked to gain national attention for the missing woman. There were no questions regarding the neighborhood Huston resided in or about her job or grieving family members. They also interviewed relatives to get a feel for the character of their assailants. For example, Figueroa’s father described her former boyfriend on several shows.
The pregnancy frame came up frequently. In most cases, headlines about Peterson and Hacking emphasized that not only is a woman missing, but also a child is missing whose life depend on that woman. In this way, the reporters emphasized the tragedy of these cases, and the importance of a speedy recovery of the women to save two lives. Reporters mentioned Peterson’s pregnancy in all articles, and half of their headlines. The descriptions ranged from referring to her as “the pregnant woman” to including her gestation level, eight months, due date (February 10), gender and desired name for her unborn child—Conner—as well as the relation of the fetus to Peterson. Teasers for stories about Peterson included: “Search for missing pregnant woman continues in Modesto, California,” and “Family of a missing California pregnant woman continues to ask for help in locating her.”
Still prominent but less detailed, articles about Hacking refer to her pregnancy, and her development (five weeks pregnant), which was unknown to most family members. Those articles that included the topic tended to mention the pregnancy prominently. Reporters mentioned her pregnancy to add weight to the fact that her husband was a suspect in her murder case.
Conversely, the media downplayed Figueroa’s pregnancy, choosing to identify Figueroa by her city and state. Headlines about her identified her as “the missing Philadelphia woman.” For example, one headline stated: “Body of missing Philadelphia woman LaToyia Figueroa found in Chester City, Pennsylvania; suspect in custody.”
Also worth noting, articles ascribed humanizing qualities to Peterson’s baby. The media identified Laci Peterson’s baby with the name she wanted to give him, Connor. In one interview, Scott Peterson discussed the preparation he made for the birth of his son. Scott described the furniture and the “little itty bitty clothes and all of those wonderful things we have.” This type of coverage was not extended to Figueroa’s case. The Philadelphia Tribune was the only news outlet in our sample to include the name of Figueroa’s baby, Nyla. This disparity in coverage brings to mind the question, is it more tragic for a white baby to die? These humanizing descriptions allow the audience to make connections with Peterson, who was a member of someone’s family and made a meaningful contribution to society as a teacher. Perhaps society deems an upwardly mobile member of society more valuable than one who is unemployed or unwed. By describing the clothes and baby’s room and spotlighting the name of the baby of some victims and not others sends viewers the message that the baby of a white family is deemed more important than the baby of a black family.
Lovers and Husbands
The coverage of lovers/husbands presented an interesting dichotomy. Friends and family members of white perpetrators discussed the personalities and feelings of husbands. The media did not give the mates of black victims the benefit of the doubt. Articles framed Scott Peterson as an all-American guy who fished and spent time hanging out with his wife and friends. Articles included quotes describing him as a gentleman and always good to Lacy.
Even when authorities raised the possibility that he may have killed Peterson, commentators refuted the idea that he might be capable of harming his wife. For example, on January 3, 2003, FOX News’ “Hannity & Colmes” featured an interview with Bill Stanton, former New York City police detective and security consultant with Decision Strategies, and Jeffrey Ian Ross, a criminologist with the University of Baltimore. The two said police asked the public to help them verify the whereabouts of Laci’s husband, Scott Peterson, who said that he was on a fishing trip. When the police officer pointed out that it was highly unusual for someone to fish the night before Christmas, Hannity responded: “Well, I speak up for a lot of husbands here. We don't help as much as we should. But no, I don't mean to make light of it, but it might have been the only day he could go fishing. That doesn't bother me as much. And we'll pick that up on the other side. I just hope and pray that this girl gets home. I mean, if there is any way” (Hannity, 2003).
When a guest on CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on January 3, 2003, discussed the statistic that most pregnant women are killed by a husband or loved one, CNN's “American Morning,” co-host O'Brien responded, “Wow. That's a fairly narrow sampling but that's still a shocking statistic” (Blitzer, 2003). The media, which played up this all-American frame in the beginning, backtracked when it surfaced Scott had had an affair with Amber Frey, who later wrote a book and appeared in numerous interviews.
Coverage of Hacking’s husband, Mark Hacking, also began on a positive note. Thelma Soares, Lori Hacking’s mothertold USA Today, “Mark and Lori Hacking seemed to have a perfect life. They were good kids. Lori was very determined. She loved the business world. She wanted to get her MBA but held off so Mark could finish medical school” (Howlett, 2004). On July 25, 2004, Lori’s mother appeared on CNN and described Mark as “romantic and tender-hearted young man who cried recounting special things he did for her daughter.” On July 19, in several segments of CNN, Herald Soares, Lori Hacking’s father, described Mark as "incapacitated" by his concern and grief over Lori's disappearance. He doubted Mark Hacking could have harmed his daughter. “I don't think he could do it because he loved Lori too much," Soares said. He said when he visited the couple, "They always were holding hands together, they were sneaking a kiss here and there. He was a gentleman.”
However, after news broke that Mark had mental problems and was a pathological liar, most of the coverage focused on his mental state. The media reported he never graduated from the University of Utah in psychology and never applied to medical school as his family believed. A USA Today Aug. 3, 2004, article said, “Twelve hours after he reported his wife missing, police found Mark Hacking wandering naked at a local hotel. He voluntarily committed himself to the psychiatric facility” (Howlett, 2004).
In stark contrast, coverage of black victims’ mates framed them as trouble from the beginning. A July 28, 2005, transcript on FOX News’ “The Big Story with John Gibson” ran one week after Latoyia Figueroa’s disappearance and included about ten paragraphs about the case. The second item in the newscast, featured an interview with Figueroa’s father who said he suspected foul play surrounding her boyfriend and father of her unborn child. “Apparently, the two went to a doctor’s appointment. Then they had lunch. And hasn’t been seen or heard from since” (Para. 2-3). A FOX News correspondent discussed award money raised for the case and Figueroa’s biography, including how she was five months pregnant and the mother of a 7-year-old daughter.
The transcript said Figueroa’s family members told FOX that they did not trust her boyfriend, Stephen Poaches. The article stated police questioned him and his ex-girlfriend, who allegedly kicked Figueroa in the stomach while she was pregnant. On a July 28, 2005, segment of FOX News, a guest clarified that Poaches was not her boyfriend but someone who fathered her child; they did not have a longstanding relationship (Van Susteren, 2005).
In the same segment of “On the Record with Greta Van Susteren,” Figueroa’s father said he did not like his daughter’s ex-boyfriend from the beginning. “My daughter LaToyia wanted us to meet him and he was acting kind of funny like he didn't want to be there, so I told my daughter, fine he don't have to be here. He could just go. And he left and my daughter had dinner with us” (Van Susteren, 2005). The transcript also revealed that Poaches allegedly told a police officer that he panicked and put Figueroa's body under the bed because the mother of his other child was coming over to his residence. Eventually, a jury convicted Poaches in the killing and he is serving life without parole.
Similarly, media reported Huston had domestic problems with her boyfriend. Reports indicated she phoned the police about domestic violence several times in the past. According to one article, her ex-boy friend threw a hot iron at her as they argued about money. Many transcripts described Tamika Huston’s boyfriend as having previously served time in prison. Articles and transcripts described the gory details of how he hid Tamika's body in his closet and, police say, “that very night had sex with another girl just a few feet away from the woman he had just killed”(Mankiewicz, 2005).
Black Press’ Lack of Coverage
Research question two asked, “How do black and mainstream presses cover the stories of missing women? The most noteworthy finding in this area was there were very few articles in black press outlets on missing black women. Articles that focused on missing women emphasized the disparity in coverage and not the victim.
Furthermore, whereas mainstream media sensationalized white women and ignored black women, black press publications typically focused on racial bias in the media’s coverage of missing women. For example, almost a year after Huston went missing; Essence magazine took notice of her story. The article “Have you Seen Her?” chronicled the cases of eight missing black women, including Huston. Essence magazine editors ran profiles and phone numbers of those who had disappeared from 1999 - 2004. The article asked, “Why are their stories just now being told?” (Zook & Dinyer, 2005). The article mentioned the coverage Hacking and Peterson received to that of missing black women such as Tamika, who received spotty coverage mostly on local broadcasts. It also gave details about Huston’s boyfriend who she began dating as teen-agers and who went to prison for drug-related charges.
On Feb. 15, 2005, The Philadelphia Tribune ran an article titled, “Examining racial bias in the American media.” It compared high-profile cases of white missing women who received widespread coverage to those of missing black women who did not. It also allowed scholars to speculate on the media’s disparity in coverage. According to Peter Clark, vice president of the Poynter Institute for Media Studies, this “Missing White Woman” trend was common because young white women give editors and television producers what they want. “The victims that get the most coverage are female rather than male. They are white, in general, rather than young people of color. They are at least middle class, if not upper middle class” (Miller, 2005).
In another example, The Philadelphia Tribune ran an article on Sept. 2, 2005, about Figueroa’s boyfriend Stephen Poaches, who was eventually sentenced for her murder. The article titled, “Poaches says murder was not premeditated,” described the Figueroa family’s reaction when the judge announced he should stand trial for first-degree murder. At the end of the article, police officers stated Poaches expressed his regrets with this statement: “I feel terrible for the act I committed. My regrets go out to the Figueroa family. I don’t feel I am a murderer. This was not premeditated” (Miller, 2005).
A Chicago Defender article on May 12, 2005, titled, “Enough with the media’s infatuation with missing white women,” discussed the media’s obsession with beautiful pregnant, white women (Martin, 2005). The article also gave details about missing white women such as Laci Peterson and Jennifer Wilbanks who remained in the news cycle for months. Similarly, on Sept. 15, 2005, The Chicago Defender questioned if the disparity in coverage was due to laziness, oversight or stupidity (Martin, 2005). The article titled, “We must find our own missing women” stated, “If you are a Black woman and you come up missing, forget about the national networks or mainstream media covering your story. It is clear that the prerequisite to make CNN, FOX or MSNBC is to be a blond-haired, blue-eyed woman.”
In sum, black press criticized the mainstream media for not reporting the issue. However, it appears that it did not cover the issue either. Instead, articles on missing women focused on the media’s infatuation with missing white women.
Media’s Lack of Coverage
Eventually, the media noticed the disparity in their coverage. Such articles usually focused on one victim in the lead to illustrate the larger trend of missing women. For example, an Aug. 15, 2005, USA Today article by Mark Memmott discussed briefly the lack of interest in the Huston case briefly then focused on the disappearance of Alabama high school student Natalee Holloway, 18, in Aruba.
Another article in USA Today, “Missing Pregnant Found Dead” on Aug. 22, 2005, discussed how after weeks of frustrating obscurity, the case of LaToyia Figueroa, 25, finally captured the national news media's attention, spurred by the persistent nudging of Philadelphia-based Web logs and a city councilman distantly related to Figueroa (Memmott, 2005). The article discussed how, in the process, the case became a flashpoint for the growing unease in minority communities across the country about the way they believe many national news outlets focus relentlessly on missing white women, while giving little attention to equally compelling stories involving poorer minority women (Memmott, 2005).
Phillip Dixon, a former editor at The Philadelphia Inquirer, stated that when it comes to fair news coverage, it’s simply a matter of who’s running the show in the nation’s newsrooms, what is going to bring in the highest ratings and what story will keep their pockets filled with the most money. “A big part of it is that people get excited about things they are familiar with and things that they treasure,” Dixon said in an interview with BlackAmericaWeb.com. “It’s the default response–if it looks like my daughter, I care more than if it looks like your daughter.” From a mainstream media’s perspective, Huston and Figueroa are not women that the majority of the public views as being like their daughter.
NBC correspondent Josh Mankiewicz stated, “no one is claiming that every missing-persons story should get a place on the news—there are almost 50,000 people in the FBI's database of missing persons cases. But consider this: most of those missing adults are men. Almost 30 percent of those abducted or kidnapped are Black.” Not every Jane or John Doe that goes missing can have their name plastered across American’s televisions and newspapers, but mainstream and black media need to look beyond the color and gender barriers and give every missing person the same consideration when determining what stories to publicize.
Worth noting is how newsworthiness in the media’s coverage of missing women is not the same for black and white women. American Heritage Dictionary defines “newsworthy” as, “Of sufficient interest or importance to the public to warrant reporting in the media.” Based on this definition, missing women are newsworthy. However, the media places a greater value on upper middle-class, white victims.
Obviously, there are too many people who go missing to highlight them all. In making a judgment call on what to cover, reporters and editors ultimately see the disappearance of a woman of color as normal and the victim as less valuable. However, when white women disappear, it is often novel and intriguing. Additionally, the idea that this does not happen in the suburbs, in upper middle-class utopias, in families similar to readers, etc., adds interest to a story.
In sum, the stories of women in this study are strikingly similar and very emotional; the only significant difference between them is race and class. Just as a shooting at a New York high school does not garner the same national attention and yearly tribute as a shooting at a University in Virginia, the media considers it okay to overlook a missing woman who happens to be poor, old or black. Journalists must decide if this type of treatment is fair to missing victims as well as the families that suffer through this disparity in coverage.
Discussion
The study has implications for mass media scholars who have long argued that it is important to understand the ways in which the journalistic framing of issues occurs. Such framing influences public understanding and, consequently, policy formation. However, as with any study, there were some limitations, particularly with the sample and period of study. A study that includes coverage of people from diverse backgrounds would allow researchers to make greater generalizations about missing people’s coverage, but the media seldom focus on stories about older missing women. Although the study included major national news outlets, similar sources might have resulted in a larger sample and more varied results. Because the way the news outlets cover stories differs by organization, perhaps a media outlet not included in this study would have provided evidence of equal coverage of the two groups.
Furthermore, this study only compared news coverage of two commonly studied racial groups. A future study could include other racial or minority groups, such as Latina/Hispanic Americans and Asian Americans. However, based on our own news media exposure, we consider that an unlikely category for examination–for example, none of us have seen a case of a missing Asian American woman in national news media. Nevertheless, including more racial groups might reveal other insights about bias and inequalities in coverage.
Similarly, it might be insightful to compare a larger sample of local news coverage of missing women to that of national news coverage. Evaluating the different practices and techniques these two distinct levels of news media use to generate interest in the stories of missing women could show more or less difference. Because local news stations tend to be community-oriented, their efforts to get public attention for missing black women might be more like that of national media coverage of white women.
A study that concentrates on the news coverage of missing men is overdue; although such research may exist, we found none in the literature review. More men than women go missing each year, but apparently, their disappearance is not as newsworthy, or examined in academic research about media coverage. However, the reverse is apparently the case when it comes to national news coverage of missing men. Since society constructs gender-specific behavior for women and men (i.e. strong, self-sufficient), then social norms and taboos might prohibit or at least discourage most news organizations from covering stories of missing men.
Conclusion
This study’s conclusions raise the important question of whether reporters give voice to viewpoints that reflect the prevailing newsroom standard. Newspaper audiences obviously affect how newspapers frame certain issues. The fact that journalists aim mainstream newspapers at a homogenous population helps explain why they contain different frames.
Because the news coverage of issues often sets the tone for how audiences perceive them, it is imperative to question how reporters present information to the public. Such tactics by the national news suggest white women are privileged members of society, deserving of more detailed, humanizing coverage, and investigative effort from law enforcement officials. Media outlets must devise fair ways to cover missing women.
If the national media truly believes that missing person stories are newsworthy, then it should cover people of all color who are missing. When covering the nation, media should cover the entire nation. If notsuch tragedies should be left to the coverage of local media and online outlets. Everybody benefits from more representative, fair coverage of these tragic social phenomena, coverage that cuts across race and other dividing lines.
Also worth noting, black media is not doing its part to cover missing black women. Black Entertainment Television, Essence Magazine, Chicago Defender and Ebony cover the latest fashion trends and the hottest couples, but they often overlook those who go missing within their own community. This oversight by the black press only adds to the mainstream media’s exclusionary practice, which magnifies and mirrors beliefs that women of color are not as important as their white counterparts.
Perhaps evaluations of national television and print news coverage of missing black women might encourage policy changes and raise community awareness and sensitivity to the issue. Eventually, stories we see and read about may reflect the broader racial makeup of the United States’ diverse population, and not just a fraction of it--mainly the dominant group.
To be ostracized or stigmatized by society is horrible, but to be completely ignored by lenses, pens and recorders, the tools of reporters and gatekeepers, is by far a much worse fate, hence the term, “Invisible Damsels.”
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Special thanks to students, Aleana Peoples, Aisha Tariq, Lian Qui and April Sutton for contributing to this article.
