Abigail Witchells

I meant to say this ages ago but I think this story shows the biases present throughout the media.

Now, it was a terrible thing to happen to her and I'm pleased she's getting better, but, if it had been a innocent black male unemployed teenager in south london attacked by a stranger in an identical way, instead of a white middle class mother from surrey, it would have barely made the local news, never mind become a long running national story. It shows just how little this country has really changed.

Where do I start?

Firstly your angle is completly wrong. This is a mother and child which were attacked. One violently for no apparent reason. These crimes are very rare hence the media coverage.

I suggest you actually watch a report on it.

Actually this thread has nothing to do with TV News Pres. Can someone close it.

Nothing to do with TV news presentation? On the contrary it has everything to do with it. It demonstrates how the media has created a hierarchy of victimhood, with some considered more deserving than others.

OK, the presence of a child does make a difference, but add in the other factors. Do you think people do not get randomly attacked elsewhere? Wasn't there a BBC employee murdered, not just attacked, murdered, in a random attack in london, who received far less coverage.

What i'm trying to say here is that all victims of attacks such as that inflicted on abigail witchells should receive equal recognition by the media.

all the same, it would probably be better suited over on Metropol.

Abigail is a young and fit woman. Let her win her fight. One day she might be back on her feet again

Yes, I do agree with what your saying there, but Abigail Witchell's case was violent and there could be a potential mad man out there, attacking young mothers and threatening to kill their children, which is why its such an important news story IMO . I've only managed to see the BBC News coverage of the story and they're playing a lot of emphasis on it. Are Sky and ITV the same?

It's not an easy topic, but this is a perfectly valid point for discussion. It's not all about presenting rosters you know!


I think it's quite obvious that crimes in relatively crime-free areas are going to be considered more news worthy than in areas where they are weakly occurances - but there are trends in reporting that say alot about our society.

The big stories of this type are usually about missing teenage, middle-class girls. They generally dominate every paper and every newspaper within 24 hours of their disappearance until the search comes to an end.


TV can be crucial in these cases - and I believe though hardly used, there is now a system in place to get information on screen as quickly as possible.


What I think must be pointed out is some cases, for whatever reason, get alot less coverage than others. There are cases which can dominate regional news coverage, yet not make the national news bulletins.


And yes, this specific attack was violent - but aren't all stabbings?

It's very true.

Look at Amelie Delegranche, stabbed to death in a random attack in South West London last year. How much coverage did she get compared with Tom Brown who was randomly stabbed to death in North London in a very similar attack? Or the other stabbing on a railway station in North East London in the same week? Just a co-incidence that Amelie was a young student, french and blonde?

The Soham murders were also interesting in this respect. The coverage was almost blanket on some media outlets. Any co-incidence that it was summer and therefore a quiet time for news or that they were young, blonde, middle class and were wearing Manchester Utd shirts?

Timing is an important factor, there was a young child was was abducted and murdered in early September 1997. Normally it would have been all over the news, but it wasn't because of the death of Princess Di

How many random stabbings are carried out by totally sane, non-violent people ?

I agree, its a very sad fact that the idea of mother and child carries n innocent kind of image with it. On the contrary, male teenagers do not and perhaps it is the people's perception that this teenager had caused or was 'asking' for trouble. Apologies if that does not make sense.

Saying this, when victims are left in cold blood, this makes big news no matter who it is. There's the Stephen Lawrence case, a boy whose name escapes me but who was stabbed to death in North London on the stairs of a block of flats, and a schoolboy just last year who was stabbed because he wouldn't hand possessions over.

I think it is the scale of the attack which would determine making news or not- for example, if there was a punch up between an older man and a youth, this may not make big news whereas a 'random' attack on a female probably would, whatever the circumstance.

Damilola Taylor?

that's him. sorry, i should have remembered his name.