The Media and Police Are Doing A Disservice To Missing People of Color

Carol Liebler, communications professor in the Newhouse School, was quoted by Psychology Today and The Associated Press about the murder of Gabby Petito. Her research was also cited in an article by The Pittsburgh City Paper, “How newsrooms, police departments, and social media fail missing people of color.”

In a study conducted by Liebler, focused on the disparity in police coverage for missing persons of color, she discussed that, “Both print and broadcast journalists depend on police to alert them to a missing persons case. For journalists, police involvement in a case signaled that the case was legitimate, or as one news director stated, that it had been ‘vetted by a police agency.’”