General Discussion

The media is far more likely to seize on the disappearance of a White woman than that of a woman of color—a phenomenon known as missing White woman syndrome. Sherri Parks, then an American Studies professor at the University Maryland, first coined the term, and the late Gwen Ifill popularized it at a journalism conference in 2004 when, mocking newsroom executives, she quipped: “If it’s a missing White woman, you’re going to cover that, every day.” Media coverage of a missing White woman tends to focus more on her role as a mother, daughter, or student, whereas stories about the disappearance of a woman of color typically focus more on an abusive boyfriend, for example, or her criminal history.

Delko: Blonde girl's missing and the National Guard turns out to help. Hispanic girl, no one gives a damn.
Calleigh: I think there are a lot of people here.
Delko: Oh, come on, Calleigh. You saw the media's response to Lana Walker. You know? Where were the yellow ribbons for Consuela Valdez? The recovery center? It's the same song, you know? You want any real attention in this world, you got to have blonde hair and blue eyes. (To Calleigh) No offense.
Calleigh: None taken. My eyes are green.
— CSI: Miami, "Death Grip"
The term Missing White Woman Syndrome describes how Western media will focus on the murder, kidnapping, or disappearance of Caucasian females — usually young, pretty, cisgender, and middle- or upper-class — to the exclusion of elderly, male, minority, poor, and/or disabled missing persons.

The origin of the term is unclear. Although Professor Sheri Parks of the University of Maryland claims to have coined it circa 2005, it apparently has been in use among journalists (and Fark.com) for years before that (the late PBS anchor Gwen Ifill used the term in a panel discussion in August 2004, for example). It's also been referred to as "missing pretty girl" syndrome and "Damsel in Distress" syndrome. In particular, the United States (and to a lesser extent Canada) has the AMBER Alert, which is a special alert code for child abductions and was named for the young white daughter of influential parents.