more from my ongoing rant over the years about the missing/dead white woman of the moment stories we get from the media constantly. here's a website devoted to one specific very pretty african-american woman who's gotten no notice by the media, and whose family included a page on her website devoted to a whole host of other missing persons who just don't happen to be middle-class, petite young white women. and here's some good commentary on the insipid subject that drives my mind into fits of outrage:

'To be blunt, blond white chicks who go missing get covered and poor, black, Hispanic or other people of color who go missing do not get covered,' said Tom Rosenstiel, director of the Washington-based Project for Excellence in Journalism. 'You're more likely to get coverage if you're attractive than if you're not.' Memo to ugly people: Be extra careful...
"A damsel must be white. This requirement is nonnegotiable. It helps if her frame is of dimensions that breathless cable television reporters can credibly describe as 'petite,' and it also helps if she's the kind of woman who wouldn't really mind being called 'petite,' a woman with a good deal of princess in her personality. She must be attractive -- also nonnegotiable. Her economic status should be middle class or higher, but an exception can be made in the case of wartime (see: Jessica Lynch). Put all this together, and you get 24-7 coverage."