“Incredible” - NBC News

“A gut punch” - The Texas Observer

“Sobering” - The Denver Post

The number of people aware of a person’s disappearance has a major impact on their chances of being found. Furthermore, the amount of coverage a missing person receives is often influenced by demographics such as race, age, sex, geographic location. Commonly known as “Missing White Woman Syndrome,” a person's physical attributes can determine if they are front-page news or not featured at all.

Columbia Journalism Review (CJR), the world’s most respected voice on press criticism developed a unique data tool allowing people to calculate their press value if they were to go missing, based on current reporting in America.

AreYouPressworthy.com received more than 1.12 Billion PR impressions, was covered by 850 Global News Outlets including NBC News, Forbes, USA Today and ABC News, and over 7k+ people shared their press value on their social channels in the first two weeks of the tool’s launch alone.

CJR’s hope is that awareness generated by the campaign will force changes in newsroom practices, and could improve the coverage of other areas, like policing and criminal justice, where coverage inequities remain.

“The coverage of missing people is a high-profile example of an even bigger problem,” said Kyle Pope, Editor and Publisher of CJR. “We’re hoping to force a recognition, where systemic coverage gaps exist.”