Specifically, newspapers dedicated more words to female victims than male victims, and reported more on younger children (aged 11 and under) than older children (aged 12 and over) when they were the victim of a nonfamily abduction.' ДЄ 2013 study that addressed media coverage of missing children, focusing on gender, but not race, found that 'the results revealed that gender and age play only a minor role in deciding which abduction incidents are covered by newspapers, as well as the extent to which they are reported on.

A subsequent study found that children from minority groups, especially black children, were more likely to remain missing for longer periods of time. Coverage of non-black female kidnapping cases was greater than expected. The coverage of death cases for black boys was significantly greater than expected. Missing black girls were significantly underrepresented in national news reporting. ДЄ 2010 study of news coverage of missing children found that black missing children cases were significantly underrepresented, when compared to national statistics. Figueroa disappeared in Philadelphia in 2005, the same year Holloway disappeared. ДЄ report that aired on CNN in 2006 noted the differences in the level of media coverage given to missing white women (such as Laci Peterson and Natalee Holloway), when compared to the level of coverage given to LaToyia Figueroa, a pregnant Black Hispanic woman. In 2003, the San Francisco Chronicle published an article detailing the disparity between the coverage of the Laci Peterson case, and that of Evelyn Hernandez, a Hispanic woman - both of whom disappeared in 2002. If there is a missing white woman you're going to cover that every day.' Studies, reports and analyses United States At the conference, she said 'I call it the missing white woman search syndrome.

5.2 Missing persons who did not receive comparable media attentionДЄmerican news anchor Gwen Ifill is credited with originating the phrase at the Unity: Journalists of Color journalism conference in 2004.

4 Laws named after missing white women and girls.

3.2 Presumed kidnapping of 'blonde angel' in Greece.

3 Analogous cases that do not involve missing persons.

News coverage of missing Black women was more likely to focus on the victim's problems, such as abusive boyfriends, criminal history, or drug addiction, while coverage of white women often tended to focus on their roles as mothers, daughters, students, and contributors to their communities. In addition to race and class, factors such as supposed attractiveness, body size, and youthfulness have been identified as unfair criteria in the determination of newsworthiness in coverage of missing women. The phenomenon has led to a number of tough on crime measures, mainly on the political right, that were named for white women who disappeared and were subsequently found harmed. Eduardo Bonilla-Silva categorized the racial component of missing white woman syndrome as a 'form of racial grammar, through which white supremacy is normalized by implicit, or even invisible standards'. Charlton McIlwain defined the syndrome as 'white women occupying a privileged role as violent crime victims in news media reporting', and posited that missing white woman syndrome functions as a type of racial hierarchy in the cultural imagery of the US.

ДЄmerican news anchor Gwen Ifill is widely considered the originator of the phrase. The phenomenon has been highlighted in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and other predominantly white countries. Although the term was coined in the context of missing-person cases, it is sometimes used of coverage of other violent crimes. Missing white woman syndrome is a term which is used by social scientists and media commentators in reference to the media coverage, especially on television, of missing-person cases involving young, white, upper middle class women or girls compared to the relative lack of attention towards missing women who were not white, of lower social classes, or of missing men or boys.

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