Renowned journalist Soledad O’Brien has caused some controversy with her latest comments by suggesting that missing black girls do not get the same media coverage as their white counterparts.
TV Reporter Soledad O’Brien Calls Out Media Bias For Not Covering Missing Black Girls-‘Nobody Seems To Care’
The primary reason why she believes this to be the case is by the anecdotal evidence that she raised. Soledad argued that cases such as the disappearance of Gabby Petito and Natalee Holloway got more media coverage given that minorities were not involved.
During an interview with TMZ, Soledad said: “There are always stories horribly about young people, young women who are missing. It’s just that people who are of colour do not get much coverage.”
Soledad went on to detail how the inherent media bias within mainstream reporting favours publicising stories about people who are white on the basis that it will often connect with the audience more.
That is a strong statement, but something she feels is evident given the mass discrepancy in cases of missing black women that are not found.
She added: “Listen, there are certainly a lot of pretty black girls who have gone missing that nobody seems to care about their stories.”
Nevertheless, there is a feeling from Soledad’s comments that such reporting is inevitable based on the stance of individual news networks.
She outlined an analogy by stating how people who were impacted by something personally were going to report on those issues much more in comparison to someone they had no affiliation with.
Her following comments confirmed as much: “White for sure and also pretty in the media helps… There is just tremendous bias, and people are biased to people who look like them.”
The response on social media to Soledad’s work was one of full support. Many people came out to express just how much they agreed with her views. And by her raising this issue, it can encourage a dialogue based on inclusivity.
One person on Twitter wrote: “This [your work] was incredible. The amount of issues that were highlighted that lead to missing people and the limited attention given to missing people of colour was staggering.”
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