Bob McCarty Writes

Ever wonder why it seems only attractive white girls who turn up missing become fodder for television talkers like Greta Van Sustern, Oprah, Nancy Grace, Dan Abrams and Bill O’Reilly? Despite what some folks might have you believe, it’s simply a matter of demographics.

Advertising Age ran a piece on the subject yesterday, accompanied by the satirical poster above. Unfortunately, writer Ken Wheaton appears to have followed the angle pitched to him in a news release rather than address the one key factor that readers in his publication’s audience — ad industry insiders — must have noticed as conspicuously absent: The Numbers.

In this case, “The Numbers” consists of population numbers (i.e., Census Bureau data) and audience measurement numbers (i.e., Arbitron, Neilson, ABC, Google, Alexa, etc.). They stand among the most-important criteria upon which executives in the news business base decisions. Arguably, they stand as being equally important as — or even more important than — the editorial aspect of the business.

So, again, why does it seem like only attractive white girls make it on the network newscasts and cable news talk shows while most others are relegated to appearances on milk cartons and bulletin boards? Because those aforementioned decision makers know that whites make up 73.9 percent of the population while blacks or African-Americans make up only 12.4 percent and those of other races make up the remaining 13.7 percent, according to the Census Bureau’s 2006 American Community Survey.

But don’t get me wrong. No missing person case deserves more attention than any other. If you don’t believe it, just ask the family member of a missing person. At the same time, however, I find it hard to fault executives who operate their news outlets as businesses, cognizant of the bottom line.

In conclusion, I offer two solutions for this dilemma:

1. When I grow weary of the coverage, I simply change the channel. I suggest you do the same.

2. When I think a news outlet should direct more coverage to a topic, such as a missing person case that has yet to receive attention, I contact that news outlet and make my case. I suggest you do the same.