Olivia Hinck

Abstract:

For decades, news audiences have noticed a trend in which historically marginalized communities consistently receive less coverage in missing persons stories (Sommers, 2016). Not only does this discrepancy exist, but there is an unjustifiable focus on a specific type of victim: young, wealthy, white women. This phenomenon is dubbed “Missing White Woman Syndrome” (MWWS), yet there has been little insight into how it is perpetuated (Sommers, 2016). Much of the existing discussion of MWWS acknowledges its existence but fails to uncover the coded language and behavior of news anchors that contribute to the phenomenon. To remedy this, I analyzed a Fox News segment about a white girl who went missing in 2005 but was still receiving heavy coverage in 2022. Using discourse analysis, I examined journalist Nancy Grace’s word choice, tone, and facial expressions to understand how these factors influence the way missing women are discussed in social contexts, specifically noting that the discourse changes depending on the race of the victim.