On Tuesday, Joy Reid trended on Twitter after making a few comments about the media’s inconsistencies and double standards pertaining to the Gabby Petito case and missing Black people.
Speaking on the case, Reid recognized that the Petito family deserves justice. “It goes without saying that no family should ever endure that type of pain,” she said, “and the Petito family certainly deserves answers and justice.”
She would then go on to mention the phrase “Missing White Woman Syndrome,” coined by PBS anchor Gwen Ifill. The phrase suggests that the media seemingly has more of an interest in covering stories about missing white women, but not those of Black or other people of color.
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“No one is looking for us.” With all the coverage on the Gabby Petito case, Joy Reid calls out the media’s obsession with missing white women, and calls it “missing white woman syndrome”. pic.twitter.com/FPbA3bHjNq
— Mike Sington (@MikeSington) September 21, 2021
During “The ReidOut,” Reid stated, “The way this story captivated the nation has many wondering why not the same media attention when people of color go missing?” Reid continued to say, “Well, the answer actually has a name: Missing White Woman Syndrome, the term coined by the late and great Gwen Ifill to describe the media and public fascination with missing white women like Laci Peterson or Natalee Holloway while ignoring cases involving of people of color.”
Social media had mixed reactions about Joy’s comment.
Someone tweeted, “I’m far from an expert on racism but listening to Joy Reid’s comment on #GabbyPepito is basically judging the media on how they report when a white woman is missing compared to women of color are missing, & she is right. There is nothing racist in calling out double standards.”
Another person stated, “I mean 321,859 white people went missing last year and none had the same attention as this case. The media, in general, does not really care about most missing people.”
As we previously reported, a body believed to be Gabby Petito’s was discovered. Her boyfriend, Brian Laundrie is now a person of interest and cannot be found.
Roomies, what do you think of this?
