How the Media Treat Murder

It's the value of the person. People who invest their lives in bettering themselves are worth notice. People who waste themselves and/or others are not worth the time of day it takes to type their name on a death certificate. Regardless of race. Trying to makeup yet another race issue from this type of article is just a thin veil for the fact that the news knows nothing of REAL racism. Whites are racist. Blacks are racist. Everyone at one point or another is racist. There is never "reverse-racism" because if you hate someone because of their race... ITS RACISM.

This is not about race. Just because black women were killed, does not warrant a huge televised freak out. There are white women, Indian women, etc. killed every day, but we don't report on them. I am so very sick of the race card, the excuses, and the finger pointing. There is a war going on, there is a very expensive health bill being proposed, there have been giant earthquakes where thousands of people have been killed. That is what is on the front pages.

Do I agree with the fact that only bad news makes it on the front page? No. But in the big picture view of things, STOP making things race related. Wolverton may be right about the issue of people who value their lives warrant some attention, while those who make a living destroying other peoples' lives may not be a very inspiring story, cannot be sensationalized, and aren't worth the media's time.

"They were all African-American, many were poor, and some had criminal histories including drug abuse and prostitution."

Hmm, maybe it's because these black women were lowlifes and degenerates. I agree with soapbox. It doesn't matter that these women were black. Even if they were white, they were still drug addicts/prostitutes and coverage of those types of characters isn't the same as if it were house wives or law abiding citizens.
Give us a break with this "Whoa is me, I'm black." It's getting very old. Stick your 'race card' where the sun don't shine, baby.

Idiots like Sharpton and Jesse are the real racists.

It's an absurd story. Think about it, this is a media article by the media criticizing... the media! We, John Q. Public, aren't in charge of broadcasting, radio or publishing. And of course the NCAAP jumps on the racist angle being racists themselves. Did they ever consider programmers find some things newsworthy and some not? For example, what if the murdered were all wives of ex-presidents? That's a very different angle that would definitely draw more interest, which is really all 'news' media is about. It's not about documentary or reporting every happening, it's about getting people to listen. Again, who chooses what's published/broadcast? Not me, not you, the people in media- i.e. NEWSWEEK editors!!!!

Yes, violence is way out of hand in this country and yes, the killer will likely get much more leniency than any man ever deserved but whose paying attention when people are brutally murdered every day? This is a heart-hardened country to say the least.

As for those who say these women deserved it, again, cold-hearted. They weren't saints but what woman 'deserves' that? If anyone deserves to be murdered it's murderers (and keep it straight, I'm not talking about executioners who put murderers to sleep via capital punishment). Blaming the victim doesn't help anyone, neither does the media throwing out race cards for it's own lack of responsibility in reporting.

This victim mentality is turning our country into a bunch of finger pointing whiners. 

When I find out somebody with a criminal record was offed, I don't even look at his or her name, let alone a story or a race.  It's just one less butt needing storage in jail.  I have no interest in donating to a reward fund to find out who accomplished said dirt nap.  Call me insensitive, but if you've already proven to society that your character is integrity challenged, I'll go buy a Mocha Latte for my $5 and won't waste a moment missing you.

Wow, 100% of the responders are from the right wing - maybe that's why I keep getting these obviously racist jokes forwarded to my email - you just don't see it!

This country cares about white people more than Asian, Hispanic or Black (in that order) people.
It cares about people with money more than people without.

And no, I'm a white male making 6 figures if you must know. Just like it was important for Jesse Jackson to admit that he looked behind himself more when being followed by a black kid than by a white kid, it's important for white people to admit their biases too!!!

The 8 page story from Dylan Kleibold's mom was first story on computer today - tell me, would the mother of a black kid that killed as many kids get to tell her story 10 years later?

It sounds as if the media circus marginalizes Black women, now Black men--if victimized or potentially victimized--are not quietly mentioned in any media.

I think wolverton7 hit the perverbial nail on the head, prostitutes don't rate very high on anyones list of adding value to a community. When someone decides to be a prostitute they accept the dangers associated with the job, HIV/AID's, HerpesI and II, Genital Condaloma, Syphlis, getting beat up and even murdered, and goodness knows how many other venerial diease's they carry and spread.

The police are probably trying very hard to solve these murders, the lack of officials to associate the murders is because of a lack of evidence, and they don't want to say this is a serial killer without connecting evidence. They will eventually catch the culprit. Small town PD's often don't have the money to do the expensive forensic science.

It is both racist and judgmental when a young black female disappears (in some cases a college student, teacher, or businesswoman) and there is blatantly reduced media attention...this is not my opinion per se, it is clearly obvious if you track the media stories and has been empirically proven via research. It is, however, true that any woman who has a less than pristine background, regardless of race, will also receive less media attention. I always try to remind myself that the vast majority of women who fall into prostitution do so because of a desperation and necessity to earn a living and few options open to them...they do not "accept" the dangers of such a lifestyle, as much as being aware that the dangers exist and hoping to elude them...they are no less frightened nor do they feel they "deserve" to be subjected to any of those perils. Many commentors have no first hand knowledge of the depths of deprivation, abuse, and violence the majority of these women have been exposed to since birth..."Pulling yourself up by your bootstraps" is easy to say but the reality is that before these women are even old enough to discover the alternatives, they may already have been thrust into ineffective life patterns that claim their lives. The fact is that we claim our American justice system is intended to be applied equally based on the fact a human life may be at risk (or have been taken...altho there are other circumstances which make clear the system fails on the equality score in several different aspects). If there is a murderer out there targeting some women, then ALL women are at risk...and I for one want that murderer found and removed from society. I say all this as a woman who visually is identified as caucasian (if I were to go missing I have no doubt the media would parade my picture and case across the country for some time). I was raised in a multiracial/multiethnic environment and was exposed to, and understood the seamier side of life from early childhood...but I was fortunate in that my family, while poor, did manage to keep me on the right track...I became an RN and went on to earn a Bachelor's and Master's degree. I will never understand how it is that those drivers of the media continue to repeatedly fall back on these kinds of outdated behaviors and ethically distorted reporting patterns...it is morally reprehensible, it dishonors our stated respect for human life, and decreases the opportunity to nab dangerous perpetrators of heinous crimes. The fact is the old saying applies, "It ain't paranoia if they're really out to get you." There is playing the "race card" and there are times when race and/or ethnic origins do enter into media dissemination of information.

Let me see if I have this straight.

The media is criticising itself for not covering the murder of black women as well as when the victim is white?

To set a few things straight from the beginning: I am white. I live in NC, in fact was born and raised here. I can tell you ALL with 1000% certanty, if these women had been white, prostitutes or not, this story would have been wall to wall on the news FROM THE BEGINNING! It was a local station that pushed for this to become public. This state DOES ignore things like this unless it is a black persom committing a crime. As far as these women being killed, the attitude is "who cares, they are black whore drug addicts." I think that is absolutely horrible. If this had been covered widely from the beginning, all of these cases might have been solved by now. My heart goes out to all of these families. They deserve answers far more than what they've had at this point.