Why do we care about Natalee, Laci, Jennifer?

For this story, "Dateline" contacted the presidents of all three network news divisions, as well as the heads of the cable-news channels. Only one of them agreed to sit down for an interview: NBC News President Neal Shapiro (MSNBC.com is a joint venture between Microsoft and NBC).

Josh Mankiewicz: Why is there such a huge disparity in stories about white victims as opposed to all other kinds?

Neal Shapiro, NBC News president: Well let me say, I don't like hearing that that's true. Our mission is to try to cover America. And that means all facets of America. And when our coverage doesn't reflect that, it distresses me. That said, I think it's important that people in the industry talk about it. I think the fact that I'm talking about it, I think the fact that "Dateline NBC" is devoting airtime to it, means we take it seriously. And we have to do better.

Shapiro says the wall-to-wall coverage often starts not with the networks, but with cable, which has 24 hours to fill each day and can follow a developing story in an effort to hold an audience.

But that doesn't explain all those network hours devoted to stories like Laci Peterson.

Mankiewicz: I can only conclude that the reason we do those kinds of stories again and again and again is because they work with the audience. Because they get a rating.

Shapiro: I think we do stories that people care about. And there's no doubt that when a story gets, has, and reaches such talkability that everybody's talking about, that it's on Talk Radio, that it's on cable — that if we as a network news division feel like we can weigh in, we can advance the story — we should. I think we shouldn't be above the news.

Shapiro says that in NBC, there are no rules, written or unwritten, about who should or shouldn't be covered.

Shapiro: I think when the Peterson story first started, I remember hearing it on the radio. And I had no idea who the Petersons were or what they looked like.  So I think, certainly, when we start to chase stories, I'm not sure we even know.

Mankiewicz: But is the fact that the victim in those cases turned out to be an attractive white woman — is that why we covered it so many times and devoted so much air time to it?

Shapiro: I hope not. And I don't think so. 

Mankiewicz: To what extent is the race of the people involved a factor in making editorial decisions?

Shapiro: Let me make this clear. Race is not a factor in who we cover or how we cover it.

Not everyone is convinced.

"If you're covering the nation, cover the entire nation. If you're covering the American people, cover all the people," says Deborah Mathis, a newspaper columnist who also teaches journalism at Northwestern University.

"I'm not accusing news executives of racism, not per se. I am accusing them of ignorance," says Mathis, a former anchor, reporter, producer, and newsroom manager.

Finally, getting some attention
Months after Huston vanished, Howard finally made some headway. Tamika Huston's story got a 15-second mention on Fox news channel, "America's Most Wanted" aired a show about the case, and "Headline News" also did the story.

Meanwhile, police have made progress. Through a key found in Tamika's car, they discovered what might be a crime scene in a nearby apartment. Blood evidence on a carpet matched Tamika's DNA. And police now have a suspect, but no proof whether or not Tamika is dead or alive.

After "Dateline" interviewed Howard, USA Today picked up the story. And recently, news programs have been discussing not the story of Tamika, but why the story of her disappearance received so little attention.

Broadcast networks and cable news channels did give more coverage than usual to the story of three missing Hispanic boys in Camden, N.J.

And in the midst of the Natalee Holloway coverage, some national attention was given to the story of Latoyia Figueroa, a 24-year-old pregnant mother of one, who has been missing from Philadelphia since July 18.

Despite the best efforts of her family, Tamika Huston is still missing from her home and from the lives of her relatives. She's missing from those hours of network and cable news coverage as well.

But she is finally in the headlines — ironically, as a symbol of how missing Americans who look like her are almost never on the nation's electronic front page.

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