The missing persons hysteria

[mburbank]

There have always been big media human interest stories, but never in my lifetime has there been such a hunger for them. There MUST be at least one daily, front page, ongoing non political story at all times.

There are a number of reasons.

they're easy to cover.

They're simple to understand. (Try comparing runaway bride to Iran/contra or the Tyco trial)

They generate zero political pressure.

It's easy to hook your audience through empathy. Every parent fears their children vanishing.

There is no risk of making your media outlet a target. No one will attack your bias on the senate floor for thorough coverage of jacko's trial.

It's a fad. Missing people stories are all the rage right now. Shark attacks were the rage a year ago with virtually every shark attack that happened getting major, sustained national media coverage. In the seventies, local Boston news in media ALWAYS led with what had burned down since the last news cycle. Things that had burned were sometimes as much as 1/3 of the broadcast.