“Missing White Woman Syndrome” Trends After Joy Reid Points Out That Black People Don’t Get Enough Media Attention When They Go Missing
MSNBC’s Joy Reid is trending once again, this time for her coverage on Gabby Petito, the young woman who went missing while on a cross-country van trip with her fiancé, Brian Laundrie.
During her show “The Reid Out,” the host mentioned how the media does not show enough media attention when people of color go missing. She started off her segment by saying that while Petito’s family deserved “answers and justice,” she felt the same media attention does not apply when it’s non-white people in similar situations:
“It goes without saying that no family should ever have to endure that kind of pain. And the Petito family certainly deserves answers and justice,” Reid said. “But the way this story has captivated the nation has many wondering, why not the same media attention when people of color go missing?” She added, “Well, the answer actually has a name: Missing White woman syndrome. The term coined by the late and great Gwen Iffil to describe the media and public fascination with missing White women like Laci Peterson or Natalee Holloway, while ignoring cases involving missing people of color,” she added.
Social media users have been reacting to her comments on Twitter. One user said, “The sad thing is @JoyAnnReid is not wrong. There have been over 700 missing person cases in Wyoming in the last 10 years. Mostly Native American girls and you have not heard of one of them.”
Another added, “I’m far from an expert on racism but listening to Joy Reid’s comment on #GabbyPepito is basically judging the media on how they report when a white woman is missing compared to women of color are missing, & she is right. There is nothing racist in calling out double standards.” A third said, “If Black Lives Matter so much to Joy Reid and Don Lemon, why don’t they ever report on all the black-on-black crime that happens everyday in democrat-controlled cities?“
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Press Play Below For More:
“No one is looking for us.” With all the coverage on the Gabby Petito case, Joy Reid calls out the media’s obsession with missing white women, and calls it “missing white woman syndrome”. pic.twitter.com/FPbA3bHjNq
— Mike Sington (@MikeSington) September 21, 2021