Matthew Fraser
Editor-in-Chief

Considering missing women

» Should we ignore the unequal media treatment of human lives?

 

ee since the disappearance of Gabby Petito was reported,
there has been an ongoing discussion on “missing white
woman syndrome.” The term itself was coined in 2004 by
Gwen Ifill to describe the media’s coverage discrepancy
between younger, generally affluent white women and women
of colour. The term itself is used as a critique when it is applied
to the wider categories of less affluent white people and other
marginalized people—consider the LGBTQ community—who
the media also often fail to illuminate.

The question for many people when it comes to the term
“missing white women syndrome” is whether or not the
words are needlessly divisive. At times the counterargument
gruesomely mimics the ‘All Lives Matter’ rhetoric and
counter-protest: i.e. not used to solve the problem but
rather as a method to silence the uncomfortable criticisms
being made. It is as if when faced with the idea that some
groups are excluded from media highlights and concerns a
section of the population would rather turn their heads away
and scream division. But the term is not really about white
women as a Category vis-a-vis non-white women or others,
rather it’s a question of how we in society value different lives
and why we value these lives differently.

As | was thinking about the disappearance of Petito and
as | read about the syndrome, | was struck by the name Laci
Peterson. It was a name | had not heard since my childhood
yet it was burned into some obscure portion of my brain.
| remembered the dateline episodes and the coverage. |
remembered the sombre yet frantic and sensationalized
nature of the case all these years later.

But most importantly, | remember

how they described Peterson;
always positively, using
words like “promising” and
“blessed” or “smiling” to
communicate her life and

the loss to the world.
Even now | can’t
quite tell if she

was described

 
 
 
 
 

 

 

 

 
 

 

 
 

 
 
    
   

 
   

as “angelic” (though | certainly don’t doubt that someone said
it) or if that was what my brain had reduced the collective
adjectives of the case to.

When | contemplate the total of the words used to describe
Peterson and Petito, all too often the end result is that they are
painted as victims robbed of the world that they deserved. Their
families are described as ceaselessly suffering the unfairness
of a world that takes the brightest lights so harshly. Though I’m
certainly not arguing that there is no value to their lives, | am
arguing that we are not called to value other lives equally. It’s
clear to me that the media wants me, you and anyone watching
to value the lives of a few white women, handpicked by fate and
placed before us highly; yet, it is not clear to me that other lives
are so valued by the media.

In fact, recent reporting by Mercury News covered a Bay
Area News castor named Frank Sommerville who was suspended
indefinitely for asking to highlight the phenomena known as
“missing white women syndrome.” As reported, Sommerville’s
proposal was rejected by news director Amber Eikel and led to
a potentially heated debate with the rest of the staff. Certainly,
this seems like a clear case of the media picking who we should
and should not care about. Yet, in the weeks after Sommerville’s
suspension, any number of mainstream outlets have moved to
cover both Petito’s case and the historic imbalance of coverage.
But apparently, for Eikel this was unacceptable.

This seems to be a question of who can rightfully be
described as a victim versus who is considered guilty of their
own demise. Even white women on the wrong side of suspicion
are forgotten. In the case of Tiffany Whitton, the media's
opinion seemed clear: she was a drug addict caught

stealing who ran away from judgement and
vanished. As far as they were concerned,
she was as guilty of her end as
whatever unfortunate thing befell her,
simply because it would be hard for
them to write “promising angel” in
their coverage. But Whitton is still
a human being, and her family
are also victims suffering the
unfairness of the world;
why should her life be
valued differently?