A constant sight in the news or on the Internet is that of a missing person. Crimelibrary studies indicate that more than 800,000 people disappear each year (4). Of these, just over half are men, half are from ethnic minorities and around 50,000 are adults. With such Democratic statistics, one would imagine that there would be equal media coverage for these demographics, but that is not true. If we look closely, we can see that the media tends to follow a certain pattern in who they choose to report on. They are generally young, pretty, blonde girls. It will probably be at least women. Based on what we see, it would be reasonable to assume that most of the missing people are women, young people or white people, but the statistics say otherwise. There is currently a long-standing debate about the effects of media. Some believe that media is simply something to look at or look at and has no significant effect on people, while others argue that it has a strong influence on society as a whole. Research indicates that bias in media articles leads to stereotypical or harsh representation of minorities and women (Hazell and Clarke 3). This leads to African-Americans being viewed as individuals suitable for “lower status professions” (Hazel and Clark 7). Black men were also seen as hostile and intimidating figures working primarily as athletes or musicians, while women were portrayed as domineering and overly expressive (Hazel and Clark 9). Research also suggests that the media is a determining factor in the selection of criminal cases. broadcast on the news. While it was previously thought that information in the news was arbitrarily chosen or based on the most interesting cases, it turns out that is not entirely the case. J...... middle of paper ...... Children in national media coverage: Racial and gender representations of missing children cases. " 27.3 (2010): 207-216. Academia.edu. Web. November 5, 2013. Rudolph, Alexander Jr. Racism, African Americans, and Social Justice. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2005. 71. Print. Stein, Sarah Land. “The Cultural Innocence Complex: An Examination of the Media and Social Construction of the Missing White Woman Syndrome.” Order No. 3530740, University of Southern Mississippi, 2012. Ann Arbor: ProQuest.Web. November 5, 2013. Vanessa Hazell and Juanne Clarke. “Race and Gender in the Media: A Content Analysis of Advertisements in Two Traditional Black Media Magazines.” » Journal of Black Studies, Vol. 39, no. 1 (September 2008), pp. 5-21Wade, Lisa. “Missing White Woman Syndrome and Fear of Crime.” thesocietypages.org. Sciences, August 23, 2011. Web November 5. 2013.