Why isn't this case getting as much publicity as Elizabeth Smart?

It seems like Elizabeth Smart was getting aLOT of coverage while she was missing.

Yet this little boy isn't getting hardly any. I only found out about it because I picked up a people magazine at the library and then searched online. I haven't seen anything else about it, except for the people magazine.

I live in the TX. I remember hearing the Elizabeth Smart case all over.

I know there's other cases that don't get any coverage. For example a little 2 year old girl went missing from a bowling alley in Washington in 1998, I was living there at the time. She got alot of local coverage but really no national coverage at all. I've searched online for her and there is still no leads in the case, no idea what happened. Such a sad story. Her name was Teekah Lewis.

IMHO Kyron is getting a lion's share of coverage.

just an example:

[ame="http://www.websleuths.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=21"]Missing Persons Information and Support - Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community[/ame]

Hundreds of missing children and adults where there is little to no media coverage.

[ame="http://www.websleuths.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=16"]Missing!! - Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community[/ame]

Literally thousands of missing children and adults that have little to no media coverage.

JMHO.

sahm629 said:

It seems like Elizabeth Smart was getting aLOT of coverage while she was missing.

Yet this little boy isn't getting hardly any. I only found out about it because I picked up a people magazine at the library and then searched online. I haven't seen anything else about it, except for the people magazine.

I live in the TX. I remember hearing the Elizabeth Smart case all over.

I know there's other cases that don't get any coverage. For example a little 2 year old girl went missing from a bowling alley in Washington in 1998, I was living there at the time. She got alot of local coverage but really no national coverage at all. I've searched online for her and there is still no leads in the case, no idea what happened. Such a sad story. Her name was Teekah Lewis.

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I think about Teekah Lewis all the time, and it's a shame why there wasn't more coverage about her. There's not much on WS about her as well. (sigh) I don't want to say race had anything to do with it, although one could gather those feelings/thoughts. I guess I don't want to believe it. As far as Kyron? I dunno why media picks and chooses the missing and who they cover. There are more out there missing that need help. I think every child needs to be found, and there's just not enough, not enough, not ever enough.

Over the years we have wondered the same thing, comparing Elizabeth's strong media coverage compared to cases we are studying at the time.

I think it's partially because Elizabeth's case opened up a new era in the crime of missing children in America. There have always been child abductions, a few of which did capture their share of media coverage due to the status or wealth of the family involved. Thinking of the Lindberg baby and then of course little Jon Benet.

But the unbelievability of this crime grabbed America by it's heart, the audacity a child could be stolen from her bed and vanishing in the blink of an eye. That, plus everyone just fell in love with her. Everyone related to her in their own way as she was so beautiful and the family so strident in their faith and all in all garnered respect. America lived and breathed Elizabeth every day she was missing from what I saw. We even wrote mails to the PD thinking they were doing nothing. We were passionate !

Then we went through a plague of national murders of women and children and each one was of note to us to where many of us wondered if this was a new phenom in the world of crime ~ the desecration of our children and why so many and how to stop it.


I feel that same way now about Kyron. To me he is a spectacular child with an inquisitive mind who one day will accomplish great things in life. Like every child, any imperfection he has will work it's way out as he gets older. And he will be a very dashing young man IMO, as promise fulfills what he will be. And he will be able to use humor in everything he does.

That is why I so hope he is alive. He is adorable right now and will be a man of distinction as a grown up IMO.

I think it was because Elizabeth's case was the first in the new media arena of cable news...not because it was a new era of more crime. There have always been abductions and killings of children...we just did not hear about them because there was no national media.

Because of the Mormon Church, imo.

Because she was a beautiful blond young lady. I also agree that crimes like these are nothing new and that it may have been the dawn of a new era in media coverage. I'm in Texas too, I think Kyron's getting his share. I'm sure that's a hard thing to measure.

Kyron is just one of many missing kids

Other children don’t get same attention as this case

BY JENNIFER ANDERSON
The Portland Tribune, Jul 8, 2010

Years ago, their images were plastered on milk cartons.

Nowadays, missing children’s images are posted on websites, updated with digitally altered photos to show what they would look like five, 10, 20 or more years later.

In Oregon, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children database shows 44 children who’ve gone missing during the past 35 or so years, including several as recently as this past May.

The majority fall into three categories: “endangered runaways,” “parent/family abductions” and others who “may be in the company of an adult male.”

None of them has generated nearly as much of a media frenzy as Kyron Horman, the 7-year-old last seen June 4 at his school in rural Northwest Portland.

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Much more at:
http://www.portlandtribune.com/news/story.php?story_id=127853645861969600

Blonde, blue-eyed, young attractive female.

I think a lot of it also has to do with the unusual circumstances of the abduction. Smart was taken out of her own home like Polly Klass. That jars people. "That could happen to my family!"

Kyron was last seen at school. Again, people identify with that and get a little scared.

I think part of the reason these cases get a lot of attention is he "There but for the grace of God..." factor. We can identify and relate with the innocence of the circumstances and families. Plus, like in this case, lots of people just enjoy train wrecks! We can all see it coming in slow-mo, and we are powerless to change its course.

I don't think its quite right to say someone gets coverage because of their looks , race, or religion. I'm just as interested and pray just as hard for Adji Desir to be found as I do Haleigh or Kyron. In my mind, it doesn't matter how someone looks, they feel pain and sorrow like us all.

No offense sahm, but I believe people magazine has been covering this case very heavily.... Not sure on the front cover, but I think it has been said he has been on it twice.. I could be wrong because I read ALOT of articles on line.. and I'm not sure what point you are trying to make by comparing E. Smart against Kyron... All children are precious in our minds... The only difference is in the media, because they will go with whatever sells or keeps their ratings high.. and its sad.. but it is the truth.. I won't return to this thread cuz nearly every WS in here is well aware of this... Thanks for posting...

Mrs G Norris said:

Blonde, blue-eyed, young attractive female.

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Agreed. And while I don't think her family PAID media necessarily, I can't help but think their financial status ($$$) had something to do with it. :waitasec:

That said, all I keep hearing is that Kyron is getting a lot of coverage. I've heard people complaining quite a bit that other kids don't get the coverage Kyron is. But then, I am in Oregon, so maybe that's why I have a different perspective?

I personally think Kyron is getting a lot of coverage. Especially for a boy. Sorry but in general, girls' cases seem to get more coverage.

My husband asked me the other day what type of cases seem to get more coverage compared to others. I couldn't really come up with a good answer. I think certain cases just seem to grab our hearts more than others.

PorcineGranny said:

I don't think its quite right to say someone gets coverage because of their looks , race, or religion. I'm just as interested and pray just as hard for Adji Desir to be found as I do Haleigh or Kyron. In my mind, it doesn't matter how someone looks, they feel pain and sorrow like us all.

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I disagree. It seems like (in general - obviously there are exceptions) if it's a cute white girl, she will get more coverage than a black boy. Not that it's right, because it certainly isn't, but that's what sells.

I think that if you look at a collection of just the national headlines during a certain time frame, it sort of reflects what was going on in the American subconscious at that time, values, morals, fears.

Elizabeth Smart became a national story and stayed that way because of her circumstances. She was abducted from her own bedroom in front of her little sister while her parents were in the home. They lived in a safe upscale neighborhood. They were wealthy, religious, privileged, and respected. To me, the coverage had a few underlying themes. "No child is safe anywhere, even asleep in their own bed." "How could this happen to such good people?" "If this can happen to this undeserving family, we should all be in fear."

I think Kyron became a national news story because of his family circumstances also, and that a woman seems to be suspected. Look at Caylee Anthony, Gabriel Johnson, Haileigh Cummings, Trenton Duckett, and the Cantu cases. All woman offenders, suspected offenders, or willing participants in crimes against children in their care. To me, it feels like the coverage of these cases is trying to show women can be just as violent with masculine aggression as any male counterpart, and even more so. It is beyond disturbing to hear of a mother hurting a child, the one who mother nature has destined to be weaker, compassionate, nurturing life giver. It is more than a betrayal. It rocks the universe to its core, threatening to unravel it. Add that into the dramatic but relatively common backdrop of a family with maybe too many marriages, divorces, remarriages. Step siblings, step parents, a biological mother who let the father retain custody of the child, a woman body builder who couldn't get rid of the baby weight.... Throw all of that into the pot and what you get is a cover on People magazine.

Its sad, but its true.

I totally agree, Keyboard Cat! Well said!

Mrs G Norris said:

Blonde, blue-eyed, young attractive female.

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PorcineGranny said:

I don't think its quite right to say someone gets coverage because of their looks , race, or religion. I'm just as interested and pray just as hard for Adji Desir to be found as I do Haleigh or Kyron. In my mind, it doesn't matter how someone looks, they feel pain and sorrow like us all.

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Shamrock said:

I disagree. It seems like (in general - obviously there are exceptions) if it's a cute white girl, she will get more coverage than a black boy. Not that it's right, because it certainly isn't, but that's what sells.

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I think it was that way a lot more than it is now. A couple of years ago when this was a hot topic I think the media adjusted and now we see more cases of non pretty white girls being covered.

PG, you care about everybody and I think most do too. The difference in coverage is due to ratings because they pay the bills. A pretty white girl was thought to garner higher ratings IMO. Now that they are covering more diverse cases I'd like to see how that's affected ratings.

xin said:

Because of the Mormon Church, imo.

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surrogatemom said:

Agreed. And while I don't think her family PAID media necessarily, I can't help but think their financial status ($$$) had something to do with it. :waitasec:

That said, all I keep hearing is that Kyron is getting a lot of coverage. I've heard people complaining quite a bit that other kids don't get the coverage Kyron is. But then, I am in Oregon, so maybe that's why I have a different perspective?

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I agree with these posts and more!

I think it is
1. Cable tv and 24 hour news cycle
2. Elizabeth Smart's parents were out there (weren't they) in the media?
3. The Mormon church and it's reach are HUGE! Their capability is large for media coverage.
4. The $, circumstances, etc.

I think Kyron is getting a lot of attention, but I look for it, where say someone like my Mom who is interested in crime (and works for the courts) really only follows local stuff, she was almost completely unaware of Casey Anthony during the time it was big news. She has not heard of Kyron.

As an aside, I was in the hospital having my last baby when Elizabeth Smart was found, we were having a tough time because our baby was really sick and I had the TV on when the news broke on her being found, it REALLY lifted my spirits!

I continue to pray for Kyron.

I live near where the whole Balloon Boy thing happened, and I saw just one line somewhere and then checked the search engine to learn more. So did many others, and that got metered by the MSM as interest. We got way more than we wanted of it, too, from doing that.

Intel has lots of people who would do that, as well as schoolmates and people in the city who are not satisfied that they've heard the whole story. To some extent, I'm ready to suspect that page hits also contribute to what gets covered.