That's the answer most TV experts offer when asked why the story of missing Sarasota 11-year-old Carlie J. Brucia has exploded onto the national media - sparking stories on CNN, MSNBC, Fox News Channel, NBC's Today show, ABC's Good Morning America and the Fox Network's America's Most Wanted, among others.
"It's the picture that immediately makes it important to us," said Michael Bass, executive producer of CBS-TV's The Early Show, which has featured the case each day since Tuesday. "Because there's so many missing kids out there, there needs to be something about the story that breaks it out for us. With the video, you can see firsthand an alleged crime taking place."
The eerie footage, captured by a surveillance camera at a Sarasota car wash where Carlie disappeared Sunday, has played and replayed on nationwide news outlets. It shows a man in a dark uniform walking up to the girl, speaking with her briefly and then leading her away.
Sarasota sheriff's officials said Wednesday night they have a suspect in the case. Joseph P. Smith, 37, has been in custody since Tuesday on unrelated, unspecified charges.
Smith's car, a Buick Century station wagon, was being combed by sheriff's investigators for clues to the whereabouts of Carlie, who still had not been found late Wednesday.
Police and media experts say other factors also helped make Carlie's disappearance a national story: parents who are willing to talk to the media; the fact that there are no other active Amber Alerts in the country; and a hope that viewers could identify the abductor.
The video and a statewide Amber Alert had generated more than 400 tips by late Wednesday. Media experts say the video footage of Carlie's abduction captured the moment everything changed for her, and that has affected viewers most.
Locally, TV news outlets such as Bay News 9, WFLA-Ch. 8 and WFTS-Ch.28 have interrupted programming to carry live footage of news conferences by Sarasota sheriff's officers.
And nationally, cable news shows such as MSNBC's Lester Holt Live and Deborah Norville Tonight also have featured the case extensively.
"I've never seen anything like this in 24 years of working (in TV journalism)," said Forrest Carr, news director at Tampa NBC affiliate WFLA-Ch. 8. "Most often, when someone disappears, you don't have much information. So many things go through your mind: Is it a runaway? Is it a custody case? Here, we knew right away we had to put the full resources of our newsgathering operation behind this."
That's because producers heard about the footage at the same time police issued the alert.
In a news environment where 24-hour cable channels are constantly hungry for the next megastory, Carr knew they would find the story compelling, so his staff alerted MSNBC and NBC News about what was coming.
"This probably would not have made national news five or 10 years ago ... but we're in this warp speed age, thanks to the cable news channels," Carr said. "This kind of story that is urgent and dramatic, where lives are at stake ... it's going to be on (TV) instantaneously, and it's going to be on a lot."
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in Virginia pointed to one other abduction case in June 2003 in San Jose, Calif., that was captured by surveillance video.
The tape showed a blurred silhouette of a man pulling up in front of then-9-year-old Jennette Tamayo's house and going inside. It shows him driving away with the girl, whom police said the man sexually assaulted.
"It was shown hundreds of times over a three-day time period," O'Brien said. "As a result, the individual who abducted her decided to turn her loose."
- Times researchers Caryn Baird, Kitty Bennett and Cathy Wos contributed to this report.
