Young white damsels in distress in cable-land
Eugene Robinson, writing in the Washington Post, tackles a subject that most in the news media would prefer to avoid: the "pathological cable news obsession with young, attractive white women who unfortunately vanish". This is something that really bugs me (I last touched on the subject in late July--see "In the news: What's in a face?"), so I'm glad someone's airing it in a major newspaper.
All the cable networks get slammed by Robinson, though Fox News' Greta Van Susteren gets singled out. To show up the cringe-inducing nature of this obsession, Robinson points to the case of Latoyia Figueroa (right), "a pregnant 24-year-old woman of color missing in Philadelphia" who initially received no TV news coverage whatsoever. Then , apparently "nagged by a persistent blogger, the cable networks grudgingly devoted a couple of days to Figueroa. Then they dashed back to Aruba and breathlessly reported the latest 'developments' in the Holloway case." Even though there were no developments in Aruba.At least, Robinson argues, Van Susteren is "upfront" about why she doggedly pursues the story--because it's what the viewers want.
- On the other hand, fellow passengers on the Damsels bandwagon -- CNN, MSNBC, and, to a lesser extent, the broadcast networks and the major newspapers -- are so eager to display their high-minded earnestness that they've been running stories about "the phenomenon" of missing-white-woman coverage. They act as if said coverage were a natural disaster, like an earthquake or a tornado, rather than a series of deliberate decisions made by executive producers and editors in chief.
Not surprisingly, the focus on missing women in any form at the expense of "proper" news is galling to Robinson, as it is to me; the focus on pretty young white women serves to provide some pretty vile icing to a very unappetizing cake--especially as the USA becomes increasingly non-white. He concludes:
- I've heard the blanket coverage of the Holloway story defended on the grounds that the scenario -- a beautiful young daughter vanishes on a class trip to the Caribbean -- is "every parent's nightmare." But then is Latoyia Figueroa's disappearance nothing more than "every black and/or Latino parent's nightmare"? Would it be different if she were rich?
Or is her ethno-specific name the stumbling block? Could she be a proper Damsel if her name were not Latoyia but Jennifer? Or Jessica? Or Laci?
Interesting final point. It reminds me of a point made in the chapter on baby names in Steven D. Levitt's fascinating book Freaknomics, that I read over the summer: that there's a strong statistical correlation (though not a clear causality) between the giving of a distinctively "black" name to a child, and that child's sharply reduced life chances. (See this slate.com piece for more about the book and this topic.)
posted by hdougie at 8/15/2005 10:12:00 AM
6 Comments:
I've always thought about names having certain meanings. When you introduce yourself to a stranger, your name will have a certain impact on them. With an ordinary name like Jane, the impact may not be so great, or even visible. However, with an unusual or ethnic name, the person's reaction will probably be quit clear- and even confused. I've never met a white girl with a 'black name'. And sometimes I wonder about the spelling of these ethnic names, they almost seem phonetic- like my name could be spelled Jilein. Reading the article from slate.com really made me think. "DeShawn's name is an indicator—but not a cause—of his life path." How strange that simply naming your child can indicate their level of success in life. Then again, a lot of things in life are strange, so this doesn't surprise me.
-Jillian Levine
This interests me because my mom went on for a few days about Latoyia's dissapearance, and how the news didn't give her the same attention that others such as Laci or Jessica got. I find it unsettling that because of her name or background she doesn't deserve the same media attention as other missing girls. What really makes her so different? I mean, really... nothing. Is it just the fact that she isn't a pretty young white girl from the suburbs? I think the news made a big mistake here in not covering her dissapearance right away.
-Heather Acomb
Very true, your argument emphasizes how still, in 2005, mainstream culture is the middle-class white family. It is not even the upper-class African American family, let alone the simply middle-class family. Placing more emphasis on a young white girl like Holloway will create higher ratings than a story of an African American woman. Why is this? Perhaps the fact that middle class white families define the “norms” in our culture. Even on television the popular shows with white families overwhelmingly top those with minority families. This is very odd to me as, like you mentioned, the term minority is in actuality becoming the majority of America.
I agree with what has been posted in previous comments. I think one reason that the dissapearance of a black girl wasn't covered is because we tend to see the deaths of blacks plastered on the news. It isn't that just black people are dying, but because people of ethnicity make up a large population of cities, thus more deaths would occur with people of ethnicity. So when a white person is involved in a shooting or a dissapearance it is seen as shocking, because we usually see different ethnicities on the screen, not people that we identify with because they are our race.
sorry, i forgot to post my name on my comment!
~Meghan Scheib
The impact of names and their connotative meanings is a very interesting topic to me especially because I have some first hand experience with it. Both of my parents are Hispanic, and my mother told me once the story of how her and my father came up with my name before I was born. Apparently, they didn't see eye to eye on this decision; my mother wanted to give me a name like Marisol, or Maria. My father didn't like those names because they sounded too "Hispanic" and he didn't want people to judge me or treat me badly because of it. He wanted something like Susan or Stephanie. They ended up compromising somewhat, choosing 'Marcie'. Yet, the fact is that I know my personality, my life, and the way others view me would have been different if my parents had made a different decision with something as seemingly simple as my name.
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