CNN, which fashions itself as a serious journalistic institution, is obsessed with the case of Gabby Petito, a 22-year-old white woman whose remains were recently found in Wyoming several weeks after she was reported missing. Her white boyfriend, Brian Laundrie, has also gone missing after returning from a road trip alone under suspicious circumstances.
The network's target audience of woke liberals took issue with CNN's incessant coverage, prompting a number of its anchors to air segments denouncing "missing white woman syndrome" and the broader media's refusal to cover similar cases involving people who aren't white. Chief media correspondent Brian Stelter, for example, interviewed "1619 Project" author Nikole Hannah-Jones about the racial disparities in news coverage.
The performative outrage notwithstanding, it would appear the message hasn't entirely sunk in. Either that, or CNN is simply more concerned with boosting its ratings and advertising revenue than it is with taking meaningful steps to promote equity in journalism. On Friday, for example, CNN aired an hour-long special report on "Gabby Petito and the Hunt for Justice" to give its viewers a primetime dose of "missing white woman."
CNN's almost comical level of hypocrisy is just another example of how the media continue to validate the public's widespread distrust for mainstream journalism, which has fallen to near historic lows.