The story of the JonBenet Ramsey murder can’t be avoided in any which way by the media. The mysterious murder has been the focus of the national media for weeks, and now Ramsey’s little, grown-up face is on the recent issue of Newsweek.

Like many tragedies, few will forget the impact this has had on the family and community. Few, especially in Boulder, Colo., will forget this incident even after a suspect has been charged, tried and punished for Ramsey’s murder.

Except the fact her murder was the only one in Boulder in 1996, the sexual persona Ramsey presents in her beauty pageant photos and videos is a big reason her murder has received so much attention.

But unless it is one of the parents, why should anyone really care who the police end up arresting? It really doesn’t affect the lives of Iowa State students.

News of murders, especially of young children, are always a tragedy, but rarely are they uncommon on the local news.

Pick up any newspaper in a major city and you will most likely find a story of an accusation, a murder or a trial involving children. It’s an everyday occurrence somewhere in the country.

Although we hear about child murders often, we are rarely affected by them. However, we are usually intrigued by how the murder was committed.

The Ramsey murder was approached harshly, but so were the murders of Susan Smith’s two sons. Jeffrey Dahmer’s murders were even more gruesome.

The more grotesque the murder, the more intriguing the victim, the bigger the story.

It’s almost sad some news media choose to operate this way because each murder is a separate act. Each victim is an individual and isn’t treated as such. Instead of a cover photo on Newsweek, many get a blurb on the bottom of the front page about him or her or are identified as a statistic.

Ramsey’s murder is just one of hundreds of child murders that occur in this country each year. However, her murder is just one of a few child murders to receive the high- profiled media coverage it has.

While the media may seem to glorify such tragedies and lives of victims like Ramsey, it has also made it a point to go under the surface of the story and deal with these issues that characterize it.

Ramsey was a pageant winner with rich parents. Economics and public presentation are two characteristics of this case on which the media has focused.

However important these issues are in this most fascinating case, there are also issues just as vital in every other child murder case that don’t receive the high-profile media coverage Ramsey’s murder has received.

This is why news media should equally emphasize issues that arise from more common stories than Ramsey’s. The child who dies at the hands of his mother’s boyfriend, the child who is shaken to death or the child who dies of malnutrition all have underlying issues behind the hard facts.

Although it is unrealistic for the media to give attention to every child death in the country with the same magnitude the Ramsey case has received, there are still issues important to society that hide behind each incident.

With the many problems with which people are burdened today, members of media organizations have a responsibility to bring important issues to the forefront for the public to learn.

Issues of abuse, poverty and disease are aspects of specific incidents the media covers.

Many of these issues, like economics and public presentation, are intertwined. But no matter how common incidents of abuse, neglect and murder are these days, there are issues behind every individual act that still need to be addressed.

The media are right to profile the Ramsey murder with the magnitude they have, but it should not be as select as it has been in displaying which child murder should be the first item on the news.

The issues behind each tragedy may not have a direct effect on our lives. However, they are still important because they are a harsh part of the reality we live in today and have been living in for the past thousands of years.

They are also important because, despite what we read and hear about on a daily basis, we are not callous to the problems that make the news.

Education, health, economics and social relations are all inter-related issues in many incidents. Making connections with these issues make us think and understand just how complex our society is, and that’s something we can always do more.

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Shuva Rahim is a junior in journalism and mass communication from Davenport.