Lost from the conversation: Missing people, and the role of Police media in shaping community awareness

Title
Lost from the conversation: Missing people, and the role of Police media in shaping community awareness
Publication Date
2022-06-01
Author(s)
Siddiqui, Aalia
Wayland, Sarah
( author )
OrcID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7040-6397
Email: swaylan2@une.edu.au
UNE Id une-id:swaylan2
Type of document
Journal Article
Language
en
Entity Type
Publication
Publisher
Sage Publications Ltd
Place of publication
United Kingdom
DOI
10.1177/0032258X20984502
UNE publication id
une:1959.11/52635
Abstract
Media as a public health messaging tool can shape community perception. In missing persons' investigations Police utilise media to assist in location and recovery of absent people. This study, of Australian media in 2019, revealed that the statistical evidence of who goes missing, and returns, revealed that is not replicated in news articles. Content analysis of 2,400 media items highlighting a disconnect between statistical rate of return from being missing (up to 98%) and the media profiling those who return (17% of media articles including returned missing persons narratives). In addition, Police and family dominate media conversations paying minimal attention to the reasons why people vanish or including comment from those who return. Recommendations for Police media strategies, that include an accurate portrayal of the experiences of returned missing persons, as a public health tool, is required.
Link
Citation
The Police Journal, 95(2), p. 296-313
ISSN
1740-5599
0032-258X
Start page
296
End page
313

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