The Case of Two Missing Girls

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel breaks down how two missing girls' cases show a disparity in media coverage:

The national media flocked to Salt Lake City to tell the nation about Elizabeth Smart. Why haven't the reporters descended on Milwaukee to tell the nation about Alexis Patterson?

Two cases, two cities, two different stories.

In Milwaukee, a 7-year-old girl disappears on May 3 after setting off for Hi-Mount Community School on W. Garfield Ave. in the central city. In Salt Lake City, a 14-year-old is apparently kidnapped at gunpoint from her family's million-dollar home on June 5.

This is a well written story, especially in the way it balances out plausible interpretations for the differing media coverage.

Still, a 14 year old rich white girl disappearing from her bedroom should not be a major media story. I have doubts as to whether it should even be a major local media story. Hundreds of thousands of children go missing each year. The fact that one was taken by force from her bedroom is hardly a convincing reason for heaping this much attention on a singular, isolated case.