Another child taken

I am never sure why some child abductions and murders make the national news and others don't, but this is a picture of Sarah Haley Foxwell, 11, who was found dead near Salisbury, Md., on Christmas. It's been a story in the Washington area for a few days but doesn't appear to be making national headlines. A registered sex offender has been charged with kidnapping. It seems Sarah was taken from her Eastern Shore bedroom and later killed.

Unfortunately, it's a common story in America but one in which the national media seems to have no set criteria for covering. At times, the major networks will play up these stories almost too intensely, while other times cases like this barely make it into the briefs column on page 27 of a national magazine or newspaper. It's hard to figure how news judgment is so wildly random in these instances. What distinguishes one tragic kidnapping or death from another in the eyes of newsroom editors across the nation?

Regardless, there are simply too many cases of child abuse, abduction and murder in this country. It seems to me that serious sex offenders should never get a second chance at freedom and that parents or guardians who put their kids in danger should be held more accountable before tragedy strikes. Click to read the story.