ABSTRACT
This chapter examines how the work of moral entrepreneurs or claims-makers about the ‘missing children problem’ not only used TV formats in carrying out their mission, but because of the significant impact of TV messages, also enlisted a host of other public media operating within the ecology of communication. The social policy process does not just involve a communication process; it is a communication process attempting to define the time, place and manner of a situation. Leaders and policymakers are very sensitive to mass media presentations about problems and issues, for several reasons. The moral entrepreneurs and advocates of change play to these criteria as the nature of advocacy changes. The missing children issue has been publicized and televised as entertainment and news. Widely publicized claims about the nature and extent of missing children have been offered by selected parents, moral entrepreneurs, and government agencies.
