Missing Children in News: Racial and Gender Representation of Missing Children Cases in Television News

This research explores race and gender related selection bias in national television news coverage of missing children cases in the United States. When the proportions of ethnicity and gender from the news coverage of five national television stations between 2005 and 2006 were compared to official missing children statistics, it was found that African American missing children and female missing children were significantly underrepresented in television news coverage. It is argued that such things as newsroom diversity, news operation routines, media ownership, and commercial motives of media contribute to the race and gender related media bias.

Publisher: Paper presented at the annual meeting of the International Communication Association, TBA, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, May 21, 2008
Year of Publication: 2008