Obviously when someone goes missing, it going to be hard on everyone who knew him/her. And again, obviously seeing their face plastered all over the media coupled with the word missing would be hard to swallow in even the most hopeful of circumstances. Though, of course I see the benefit behind the media's role in a disappearance. To create awareness, have people keeping their eyes open and hopefully coming forward with useful information. Though, on Twitter in recent days I did speak to someone who went to school with Danielle Hibbert (click here) who seemed quite, disturbed (for lack of a better term) at how little media coverage her disappearance was getting, and seemed to think that this simple fact could have actually hindered finding her as less people may be coming forward than usual with useful information. This kind of made me wonder, what makes one person's disappearance more newsworthy than someone else's. Take Bung, from Boronia - or even Allison Baden-Clay (who was being reported by everyone for a solid threeish weeks earlier in the year) and compare it to some 'lower profile' disappearances. So what are your thoughts? Do you believe the media play a beneficial roles in the investigations of missing persons? Do you believe the media should back further away to prevent causing pain to families/friends? And why do you think disappearance A, could be more reportable than disappearance B?
