I want to preface this discussion with the statement that I feel horrible for Lauren Spierer’s family. I hope they find her soon.
With all the media coverage about Lauren in Bloomington, some other people are upset their missing persons case is not getting the attention or support. For example, take this story that WishTV ran for ONE day. You have to search their site since you can’t find it on their main page anymore.
In the article, they state the reason the media isn’t covering Morgan Johnson’s case is Morgan is an adult. Well, isn’t the legal age to be determined an adult is 18 years? Lauren is 20, so she should be considered an adult. Well, they also say that she’s a student which is another reason the media is giving it so much attention. I don’t agree with this either due to differences in past searches for college students in Indiana.
In 2007, a Purdue student, Wade Staffey, disappeared after a night of drinking (sound familiar?). He was a student at the time. There was media coverage, but I don’t think media coverage to the extent of Lauren’s case. If there is so much media coverage because Lauren is a student, why didn’t Wade get this coverage?
Some may say that it is due to the change in times. That we are more connected though social media. Let me ask this then of you, how many of you have heard of Wade Staffey? How many of you have heard of Jill Behrman? Jill disappeared in 2000 and we didn’t have social media at the time. However, the media covered it to the point everybody knew her name. That was 7 years before Wade’s disappearance.
So why are Lauren and Jill different from Morgan Johnson and Wade Staffey?