How a crime becomes 'the biggest story'

By Torin Douglas
BBC media correspondent

Anthony Walker's killing attracted widespread coverage

So why do some murders get acres of coverage in the media while others, in the words of Sir Ian Blair, are "buried away on page 97"?

Why do some crimes strike the national consciousness, like the Soham murders, and others do not?

Sir Ian put his finger on some of the reasons: "Putting it bluntly, it's a quiet news day, it's August, these things can blow up."

Most journalists will testify to the truth of this.

The Soham murders happened in the holiday month of August, when there are many fewer political, business and culture stories to occupy the news pages and bulletins.

This factor has been exacerbated by the 24-hour news channels, with their hours of airtime to fill.

By contrast, on other days there are dozens of stories crowding each other out, so that significant issues get lost - the proverbial "good day to bury bad news" as one government spin-doctor described 9/11, the day of the terror attacks on the United States.

'Other factors'

Had the Soham murders happened on that day, they would not have received anything like the same coverage - just as the death of Mother Teresa was under-reported because it coincided with the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales.

There were other factors that helped explain why Soham became "the biggest story in Britain".

The Met chief suggested the media were guilty of institutional racism

Phil Hall, former editor of the News of the World, told the BBC: "It got that coverage because it was two little girls going to buy sweets at the local sweet shop.

"Every parent in Britain connects with that and understands that.

"And of course the fact the killer, Ian Huntley, went on television and talked openly, again gave the story great legs from a newspaper and television point of view."

Crucially, there was also that iconic photo of two pretty young girls wearing bright red football shirts, which was reproduced day after day as the police continued their search for the killer in the quiet days of August.

News values

Other factors can affect news output.

Sir Ian asked why the murder of the white lawyer Tom ap Rhys Pryce has had so much more coverage, particularly in the tabloids, than that of the Asian builder Balbir Matharu on the same day?

He suggested the media were guilty of institutional racism, devoting more attention to the deaths of white middle-class people than those of Asians or black people.

Hall denies that and says it was simply news values which dictated the differing coverage:

Some have suggested this was as much due to the mistakes of the police as the crimes themselves Story of two murder victims Head-to-head: Media racism

"The difference was the lawyer who was killed had his wedding plans in his top pocket, his bride came out and was photographed and quoted the following day, his parents came out the day after that - the story had an awful lot of different elements to it.

"And, unfortunately, newspapers and television are commercial enterprises - they are looking for human interest stories, and it is detail that really makes stories take off."

Others point out that the media also devoted widespread coverage to the deaths of black people such as Stephen Lawrence, Damilola Taylor and Anthony Walker.

Yet some have suggested this was as much due to the mistakes of the police as the crimes themselves, and that too much exposure was given to the Walker case, compared with the death of young whites.

The president of the National Black Police Association, Keith Jarrett, said it was not just the amount of coverage that differed on racial lines, but its nature.

"When Victoria Climbie was murdered by her evil aunt and uncle, about the same time there was a white family that jumped on the stomach of their baby.

The two incidents, the killing of two children, were reported very differently."

'Out of line'

Writer Sarfraz Manzoor says the deaths of Lawrence, Taylor and Walker also fit a particular narrative that the media like to play up - "the saintly black boy" - which explains why they received the type of coverage they did.

The Soham murders took place in a month with few major stories

He also says white middle-class people are more media-savvy and better able to give the right quotes and be good on camera.

One exception was Sandra Shakespeare, whose niece Letisha Shakespeare was killed at a New Year's party in Birmingham in 2003.

She agrees that media attention can make a big difference.

"It keeps everybody's eye on the ball. I'm not saying that the police wouldn't have done all they could have done but when the eyes of the media and so forth - the country - are on you, it keeps you on that straight and narrow and keeps you focused.

"That's one of the reasons why we held all those press conferences."

But the former editor of the Sun David Yelland thinks Sir Ian Blair is simply wrong to label the media racist.

He told the BBC: "It's a very big word. To use that word, to say racist about anybody - particularly people in broadcasting and the media - is a very big thing for him to say, a very, very big thing indeed - and I think he's way out of line."