Sensationalism or public service in the information on missing children

Abstract

Missing children pose to journalists the challenge of reporting on facts that offer high human interest, but this requires rigor and caution. Media coverage can exploit the emotional components of the event in order to increase the audience or it can cooperate with the investigation by facilitating citizen collaboration and avoiding speculation. This paper examines the key features in this kind of news and information for this article is drawn from the study of four Spanish newspapers' (El país, ABC, La vanguardia, and El periódico) coverage about the 15 missing cases reported in the SOS Desaparecidos association's website -which all occurred between 1977 and 2015. The analysis detects an unequal amount of media attention paid to the disappearances and a predominantly sensationalist approach.