Missing Black Woman Bumped from MSNBC for Paris Hilton

A reporter with The Miami Herald recently blogged about the fact that he was scheduled to appear on MSNBC to talk about Stepha Henry, a 22 year old black woman who is has been missing from the Miami area since May 29th. But reporting on Paris Hilton’s jail hissy fit took precedence and he was booted from the show. David Ovalle writes:

I’m livid. I agreed to conduct a last-minute interview with MSNBC about the case of missing Stepha Henry, the 22-year-old college grad who went missing May 29 from Miami-Dade. I rushed to MSNBC’s studio but a few minutes before the interview, I was told that it was off — Paris Hilton coverage was more important.

Contrary to the stories we see on the nightly news about “missing” people, but here are the numbers: from a 2005 USA Today story:

FBI statistics show that men are slightly more likely than women to be reported as missing, and that blacks make up a disproportionately large segment of the victims. As of May 1, [2005], there were 25,389 men in the FBI’s database of active missing persons cases, and 22,200 cases of women. Blacks accounted for 13,860 cases, vs. 29,383 whites.