The Leader

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Every weeknight at ten, Milwaukeeans have the choice of watching five separate versions of the local news. All of the channels are devoted towards supplying Milwaukee with the best local coverage. It is the epitome of our capitalist ideals-companies competing in order to supply the consumer with the best possible product. At least that is what it is supposed to do. But if you were to turn on the television on any given day you will be experience the most fear-inducing sensationalism that it can muster. Personal tragedies are reduced to sound bites, and we are given extreme close-ups that seem more like spectacle than informative news.

When news first hit about the disappearance of two Milwaukee-area boys, the news networks pounced upon the opportunity to work viewers into a frenzy. Quadrevion Henning, 12, and Purvis Virginia Parker, 11, went missing on March 19, 2006 while playing basketball in McGovern Park on Milwaukee's North Side. Both boys lived within a two-block area of each other and had asked Quadrevion's grandfather permission to go play basketball, the last that was seen of the two.

After they had not returned after dark, the grandfather of Quadrevion Henning went searching for the two and eventually alerted the police to the disappearance of the two. It was first assumed that the two were at a classmates' house. After a search of the area was inconclusive, the police along with the help of the FBI and civilian volunteers began to expand their search. Eventually, they sent teams of officers and search dogs into the nearby Havenwood Forest Preserve. They also began a frigid search of the lagoon in McGovern Park that yielded no results. Two weeks later the case was upgraded to become a criminal investigation, though police sources are unable to say for what reason it was redefined because they did not want to compromise the case.

Plastered across TV screens were the images of the two boys along with a fervent search for them. $10,000 was donated by Dean's Food as a reward for any information leading to their safe return. Businesses began to post signs of their pictures on store windows along with citizens placing the same pictures on the windows of their cars. Now that two weeks have passed though, less and less time is devoted to the kids on local news as if their case has fallen out of vogue. Granted, the probability of their return diminishes the longer they are gone, yet it still seems inappropriate for there to be such a fuss when people are not willing to care after a two-week period.

The story of the missing boys echoes previous lost children stories in Wisconsin. Three years ago, Alexis Paterson went missing in the area and the search was fruitless. Next to the posters of the missing boys you can still see the forgotten and faded posters of Alexis still hanging in many stores. Alexis went missing immediately after her stepfather dropped her off at Hi-Mount Elementary School.

Race has been named as a large factor in why the media coverage is so intense but brief. People are often quick to assume that the children are from a broken home, and that the parents in some way are responsible for their disappearance, either through the actual kidnapping or through neglect. But these cases seriously run counter to this prejudice. Both Quadrevion and Purvis come from upstanding families.

Some cite the discrepancy between the coverage of missing white children and black children as being one of marketability. As JS-Online states, "How media-savvy the parents of a missing child are also plays a role in news coverage. Emotional pleas from mothers and fathers are more likely to lead newscasts or land on front pages. . . How parents and neighborhoods are perceived can be another important factor. When stories paint a family as "perfect," the tragedy seems somehow more dramatic."

Missing children bring ratings, and people apparently don't want to empathize with a different race. It seems that black children only elicit enough empathy to be on the air for two weeks. As cynical as this sounds, it really does show how unfairly the sensationalized news treats race relations. While Jon Benet Ramsey's name is still faintly on our lips a decade afterward, the Alexis Pattersons of the world come off as just a flavor of the week.

Viewers should demand more balanced news from our stations. This bias arises from America's confusion of 'news' and 'entertainment.' If news stations were valued on their merit rather than their hype, then we could finally give people of all races the attention needed to return lost children to the people who love them most.

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