Why do certain missing persons cases dominate the 24-hour news cycle while others fade into obscurity? In this episode of pplpod, we investigate "Missing White Woman Syndrome," a term coined by news anchor Gwen Ifill to describe the media's disproportionate focus on young, attractive, white, and upper-middle-class female victims.

We examine the sociological data behind who gets covered and who gets ignored, breaking down how Black missing persons receive a significantly lower share of news coverage relative to their missingness rates. We also explore how this bias manifests globally, from the lack of coverage for missing Indigenous women in Canada to racial hierarchies in South African reporting.

Key topics in this episode include:

• The "Damsel" Narrative: How media outlets fra ...