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Nicola was reported missing on Friday 27 January, 2023. The police alerted local media the next day and the story appeared in The Mirror and The Mail Online on the Sunday. On the Monday Sky sent a reporter to the village.

Initially, Northern England Â鶹ԼÅÄ News correspondent Danny Savage thought it was a localised missing person news story but the discovery of Bulley’s mobile phone (still connected to a work call) and her dog’s harness near the River Wyre raised the stakes, and he was on the scene by Tuesday.

Social media forced the news agenda

Danny Savage hadn’t expected the story to run beyond key updates, but social media and blog posts set the agenda, growing with each day when there was no sign of Nicola. There were plenty of hooks for people to hang theories on, among them statements by Nicola’s family and friends, searches by a private diving company, and the release of new photographs.

Speaking in a personal capacity, Savage believes that the public could not help themselves. “I think lots of people love a good mystery,” he says, “and there was one happening right in front of them, developing day by day. I think it just sparked the imagination.”

The absence of "non-reportable briefings" may have fuelled the frenzy

Lancashire Police were aware Nicola had health issues with alcohol and the menopause, and released this information a few days before Nicola’s body was found on February 17. The force was subsequently criticised for this in a review by the College of Policing.

Some journalists were critical of the police for not giving "non-reportable briefings" on these issues earlier in the story so as to influence how the story was reported and dampen down speculation.

One complication for the police was new regulations imposed by the Leveson Inquiry on press transparency. Police now have to note down any meeting with the press, and journalists are listed as a corruption risk in police guidance – along with sex offenders, terrorists, criminals and private investigators. “It really does set the tone,” says Rebecca Camber, crime and security editor of the Daily Mail.

The level of public interest in Nicola Bulley’s disappearance may have been part of what academics call "victim hierarchy". This phenomenon suggests that public sympathy is predicated on factors such as race, appearance, class and other factors including mental health.

“The more angelic, the more innocent, the pretty white person is likely to get far more coverage than someone with a more complicated life,” says Professor Karen Shalev, director of the Missing Persons Research Group. “In general, we are less compassionate if something bad happens to someone who maybe is addicted, maybe has mental health [problems], maybe comes from a very chaotic lifestyle.”

“As the public, we certainly have a role to play in continuing the bias,” adds Shalev, “and members of the media want to find stories that the public will engage with.”

It could be that the feverish speculation associated with Nicola Bulley’s disappearance will change the way similar stories are covered in the future. Danny Savage certainly thinks that something has shifted. He says: “I think we will look back on the tragic case of Nicola Bulley and say there was a turning of the corner in the way people show interest in news stories.”

Listen to How You Shape The News, including full coverage of the Nicola Bulley story.