Natalee Holloway - Media Coverage

Media Coverage

U.S. television networks devoted much air time to the search for Holloway, the investigation of her disappearance, and rumors surrounding the case. Greta Van Susteren, host of Fox News Channel's On the Record, and Nancy Grace on CNN's Headline News were among the most prominent television personalities to devote time to the incident. Van Susteren's almost continuous coverage of the story caused On the Record to get its best ratings to date, while Grace's show became the cornerstone of the new "Headline Prime" block on Headline News, which ran two episodes (a live show and a repeat) every night during prime-time. As the case wore on, much of the attention was given to Beth Twitty and her statements. Aruban government spokesman Ruben Trapenberg stated, "The case is under a microscope, and the world is watching."

The saturation of coverage triggered a backlash among some critics who argued that such extensive media attention validates the "missing white woman syndrome" theory, which argues that missing-person cases involving white women and girls receive disproportionate attention in the media compared with cases involving white males or people of color. CNN ran a segment criticizing the amount of coverage their competitors gave to the story despite what they characterized as a lack of new items to report, with CNN news anchor Anderson Cooper calling the coverage "downright ridiculous".

Early in the case, political commentator and columnist Arianna Huffington wrote, "If you were to get your news only from television, you'd think the top issue facing our country right now is an 18-year-old girl named Natalee who went missing in Aruba. Every time one of these stories comes up, like, say, Michael Jackson, when it's finally over I think, what a relief, now we can get back to real news. But we never do."

In March 2008, El Diario commented, "But if doubts persist about cases involving missing Latinas, there are reasons why. These cases rarely receive the attention and resources we see given to other missing persons. The English-language media, for example, appear to be focused on the stories of missing white women, such as with the disappearance of Natalee Holloway in Aruba. Cases of missing Latina and African American women often remain faceless, when they are even covered."

CBS senior journalist Danna Walker stated, "There is criticism that it is only a story because she is a pretty blonde—and white—and it is criticism that journalists are taking to heart and looking elsewhere for other stories. But it is a big story because it is an American girl who went off on an adventure, and didn't come back. It is a huge mystery, it is something people can identify with."

Good Morning America anchor Chris Cuomo was unapologetic of his program's extensive coverage of the Holloway case. "I don't believe it's my role to judge what people want to watch … If they say, 'I want to know what happened to this girl' … I want to help them find out."

Holloway's family, however, instead criticized the lessening of coverage of the young woman's disappearance. The saturation coverage of Holloway's disappearance by the American media was largely eclipsed in late August 2005 by Hurricane Katrina. Beth Twitty and Dave Holloway alleged that Aruba took advantage of the extensive coverage of the hurricane to release the suspects. However, the deadline for judicial review of Joran van der Sloot's detention was set long before the hurricane.

Lamented Dave Holloway in his book,

Hurricane Katrina had left the door open for the boys to be sent on their way with little publicity and few restrictions because it took the world's focus off of Natalee, but only for a brief time. The huge amount of publicity had waned and, during that time of quiet for us, Joran and the Kalpoe brothers were sent home ... All of the news shows that had followed our every move only a day before had now become fixated on the next big ratings grabber: the victims of Hurricane Katrina.