Media disparity, when does it count? August 10, 2005

Tamika Hutson above went missing during the same time as Laci Peterson but got significantly less media coverage than her and her other white counter parts, this story was covered by dateline last Friday but did they just simply pull this story out of the Essence magazine from two months earlier?) Friday August 5th http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8667821/ "Why do we care about Natalee, Laci, Jennifer? Is there gender and racial profiling in missing persons coverage? Why some stories, like Tamika Huston's, are never told" Wednesday June 22nd http://www.essence.com/essence/lifestyle/voices/0,16109,1071711,00.html Have You Seen Her? When Black women disappear, the silence can be deafening. I'm new to this, so be patient. Let me set the tone for my web blog with something that happened to me Friday. I was chillin around the house after a visit from my uncle and a cousin I had never met and to my surprise on the NBC nightly news there was a story about the seemingly biased coverage of white "attractive" females that have gone missing in recent times versus. the lack of coverage received for minority (and I supposed un-attractive?) females that have gone missing in the same time. Needless to say my conspiracy theory itch felt like it was about to get scratched by this story, and an overwhelming hope came over me that maye the mainstream media was about to police itself. Not only was I excited that it was being addressed on the nightly news, but to my surprise it was actually covered as the main story of NBC's Dateline. But to my dismay, there were no references to the article in the June issue of Essence magazine which chronicled the same phenomenon. I wondered if they had not heard about this article, but how could that be? It's a worldwide publication and I’m sure the research department of a journalism powerhouse such as GE's (aka General Electric, did you know they are a defense contractor? Makes covering the war much easier I'm sure) NBC network news would've picked up the essence article on first sweep. So I have to do my Jada Kiss impression and ask,“why?”...Oops, let me do my research, I believe KRS One asked the question first "Why is that?" Even more stunning to me is that when the question is posed in the expose, the one sister that comes borderline close to calling it racism dances around it. "If you're covering the nation, cover the entire nation. If you're covering the American people, cover all the people," says Deborah Mathis, a newspaper columnist who also teaches journalism at Northwestern University. "I'm not accusing news executives of racism, not per se. I am accusing them of ignorance," says Mathis, a former anchor, reporter, producer, and newsroom manager." No one on the show says that the national print/TV media has a discriminatory double standard. The only thing close is when an exec (NBC's exec the only one that would agree to appear) says "I think we do stories that people care about" End quote, that is the American-news watching public doesn't care about black girls going missing. Please read the essence article, and if you don't have time to read all of the stories you've missed besides Tamika Hutson (whose story eventually made it to America's most wanted), just look at the pictures of all the sisters that have gone missing recently. Sisters that we could've been looking for. I wonder if they would've let us put it on BET news? There is a blog where the Dateline writer says that they wanted to do this story back in February. I wonder what took them until August to get to it? MSNBC Blog Self Critique My take on all of this? Is this another example of how mainstream media shows it's blatant racism, thuggery, indifference, and injustice and says to its victims..."What are you going to do about it? Yeah I only show white women who are missing, and so what? Is there a problem with that? Yeah I whupped Rodney King's butt in front of the camera, and? Yeah I shot the guy in LA with 80 some odd rounds, and? Yeah I shot the Latin Hostage taker and the hostage, so what she was a baby? Yeah we put hand cuffs on that little girl in Florida, what do you have to say about that? Not only have I done this all, I've done it and put in on TV and showed the entire world" Now what are you going to do about it? Tuesday, Aug 9, 2005 - 10:59pm (PDT)

Arrest made in the Tamika Hutson case...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8929705

Saturday, Aug 13, 2005 - 12:47pm (PDT)

Ok, I know I'm crazy. But they covered the update on America’s Most Wanted Saturday. Now a local reporter interviewed the Brother. He admitted to the killing. He said that they were arguing, and that he didn't mean to hit her. He threw an iron at her and she died. It just made this already said worst. They were arguing and he threw something at her. He said he didn't mean to hit her. And she died. Who hasn't been there, when they got so heated that they wanted to hurt something? But you quickly gain control of your violent impulses. We need to come together. You know what I mean? Work through our differences, and learn when to just walk away in peace.
Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. Matthew 5:9 KJV

Sunday, Aug 21, 2005 - 05:15pm (PDT)