It's been a relief in the past couple of weeks to see media coverage shift briefly to stories about the women who went missing over the years in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. For years, with some notable exceptions, the focus has been on the man accused of killing 26 women.
Most of the stories show that the families lost their daughter/sister/mother to drug addiction long before they disappeared. But I didn't notice that making the loss any easier to handle for the people left behind. It was a wrenching fight to get the police to pay attention to the large number of missing women.
Then, once there was a suspect, the pig farmer became the centre of attention. Even when a story was about a victim, the headline generally referred to the accused murderer.
The coverage to come will include a lot of details about body parts and the depressing lifestyle of the "drug addicted prostitute". I hope the journalists covering the case remember to talk about the victims as real people, with real families and friends.
Thanks for the tip-off Eric I have fixed the link !
Posted by: Mat | March 06, 2007 at 04:33 PM