Funny what a couple of words can lead to....got this from USA Today:



Disappearance draws media's gaze
By Mark Memmott, USA TODAY

Eleven days after a young, pregnant woman who is black and Hispanic disappeared in Philadelphia, the national media are giving her the type of attention they previously devoted to white women.

Internet bloggers played a role in pushing Latoyia Figueroa's case into the spotlight.
By Figueroa Family via AP

LaToyia Figueroa, 24, who is five months pregnant and the mother of a 7-year-old daughter, was last seen July 18 near her boyfriend's home. Thursday, police searched a park near there for clues.

Sgt. Ron McClane of the Philadelphia police told the Associated Press there was no evidence yet of foul play. Melvin Figueroa told USA TODAY his daughter has never disappeared before. A local crime commission was offering a $10,000 reward for help in finding her.

Her story was updated throughout Thursday on all three cable news networks: CNN, Fox and MSNBC. Today, all four major broadcast networks plan to run the story on their morning shows.

Internet bloggers appear to have played a role in pushing Figueroa's case into the spotlight. Starting last Friday, Philadelphia-area writers of Internet weblogs, or blogs, organized an e-mail campaign and coordinated their blogging efforts.

Their message to the TV networks: Give Figueroa's story the same sort of attention networks have given to Natalee Holloway, a white teen from Alabama who disappeared May 31 in Aruba, and Laci Peterson, the white, pregnant Californian who was murdered by her husband in 2002.

When the bloggers' efforts began, Figueroa's story had been reported briefly by Philadelphia radio and TV stations and once by the Philadelphia Daily News.

Richard Blair, 51, who writes as Richard Cranium on the blog "The All Spin Zone," led the effort. He said he was contacted Tuesday by a CNN producer. A day later, stories started to appear on CNN and the other cable news channels.

To Blair, the issue was fairness. "When I heard about her, the similarities between her case and Laci Peterson's really struck me. And I thought, 'It's been five days — why hasn't anybody picked up on this in the media?' "

Television networks have been criticized in recent months by commentators such as Washington Post associate editor and syndicated columnist Eugene Robinson. The charge: They report only on missing persons who are white, female and attractive. That focus ignores the fact that men account for slightly more than half of the nearly 50,000 active missing persons cases in FBI files and that blacks account for nearly 30%, although they make up just 13% of the population.

Michael Bass, senior executive producer at The Early Show on CBS, echoed on Thursday comments made previously by television producers when asked about whether they favor stories about white women.

"It's the story that drives our decision (on coverage) rather than the gender or race," he said. Bass said his staff heard about the case from the CBS affiliate in Philadelphia, "though we look at the Web, too. ... It's possible someone in our group saw it there first."

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i wonder if it hadnt been for the Bloggers, would her disappearance have been reported. its a shame that WE even have to wonder such a thing!

 

You know, it is sad that we have to wonder. What it does say however, is that if we want to see change, there has to be a force of people who no longer tolerate the status quo. That while there is a lack of leadership, this is a clear reminder of what MLK said...paraphrased no oppressor has ever given up rights, it must be demanded by the oppressed. And it is a sad but true statement...if more people would give way to activism instead of apathy, there might be the chance to see more things that need to change actually do so. While things are scary under the patriot act, it is still the responsibilty of conscious people to demand that people not turn a blind eye to an agenda just because it doesnt speak to them....that somehow, it speaks to everyone. So, let us keep wielding our words through action until we get closer to satisfaction.

Such a damn shame.