[Steeltrap]

I found this story on the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel's Web site, written by its television-radio columnist. I sort of agree with his points, but it is still bothersome because part of me thinks that video shouldn't be the only factor in picking stories for the news.
Then again, I'm a newspaper reporter, so I see things differently.


The criticism of national news outlets, especially TV, for over-playing the Elizabeth Smart story while ignoring other missing kids, like as Milwaukee's Alexis Patterson, is on point.

The impression created by the out-of-whack coverage is that the daughter of an affluent white family is more precious than a 7-year-old black girl whose family hasn't climbed as high up the economic ladder. And that's an impression the news media shouldn't be fostering.

But there's another, far simpler explanation for the discrepancy in news coverage:

Video.

It's not an excuse. But it's a key reason why some news goes national and some doesn't. Moving pictures are the driving force behind TV news.

We've now seen the home video of the 14-year-old Salt Lake City girl over and over. There's Elizabeth playing the harp, acting in a school production, roasting marshmallows at the beach.

As tiresome as the snippets of video become, they've helped transform Elizabeth Smart into a living, breathing person for TV news viewers. It's the same way that JonBenet Ramsey was humanized by the endless showings of her beauty pageant footage.

If there's any video out there of 7-year-old Alexis, it hasn't been made available to television.

Moving pictures of little Alexis might have helped broadcast her story across the country when she first disappeared. Sadly, most Americans are just hearing her story this week, nearly a month and a half after she vanished.

Plus, I was reading the JS story that led to the BET piece, and it also pointed out that media coverage may also be less than enthusiastic if the parents aren't perceived as being sympathetic. Alexis' stepdaddy served a two-year prison term for selling drugs and he was also a getaway driver during a bank robbery in October 1994 that led to the death of a police officer, according to this article.