If you’ve ever wondered why news media obsesses over shoplifting but ignores wage theft, or why media outlets report a “shortage” of prison guards without questioning why we imprison so many people, you’ve probably encountered copaganda.
In this episode, award-winning civil rights lawyer and author Alec Karakatsanis joins me to discuss his phenomenal new book, Copaganda: How Police and the Media Manipulate Our News, and to break down all the ways that our news ecosystem is polluted with pro-police PR.
We talk about how copaganda shapes literally every form of media in the U.S. and warps our perceptions of safety and justice. Alec reveals how these fear-driven narratives are fueling the rise of authoritarian policies, mass incarceration, and deepening inequality.
Those quotes aren’t even the worst of it; the whole article deserves a read. The asshole glorifies killing suspects, celebrates a suspect committing suicide, he’s still working and takes no responsibility for what he wrote, and the state police initially redacted the email and lied about why they did. Assholes all the way down. A quote from their superintendent (and former SWAT member) in a presentation on his budget to the legislature:
Part of the agency’s strategic plan is to create accountability through clear direction from supervisors and “sincere, authentic messaging,” Codding told lawmakers.
That is horrifying footage. Kicking her belongings away, leaving her in a heap on the sidewalk. Handling her like that after a fall is asking to paralyze her!
Corrupt cops are the only criminals I support the death penalty for. They’re given so much power, and when they abuse it they need to be put down like rabid animals. We should hold them to the highest standards and the harshest penalties.
LASD shot LAPD with rubber bullets and tear gas during No Kings protest
Radio transmissions reveal officers frantically shouting “hold your goddamn crossfire” as the joint operation broke down at Saturday’s downtown rally.
Something I’ve been considering lately, and I’m asking this very seriously: have there ever been any examples of police, however you wish to define police, showing up at a protest in riot gear where they were ultimately on the right side of history?
I’m not saying there’s never been a police presence to defend the progressive side of things, but I really can’t find any immediate examples of that sort of heavily armed and armored defense for any socially just causes. I can find examples of “deputy escorts” for school integration (e.g., Ruby Bridges, et al), but these look far more like Barney Fife (or at least Andy) than they do like the RoboCop wannabes we see defending the bigots.
(And yes, I’ll freely acknowledge that there’s a bit of unfair comparison of baselines here. The lousy Pinkertons that showed up to kill Union protestors in the early 1900s look downright quaint compares to the municipal war-machines deployed today.)
That might be because they tend to be there to protect buildings / property, instead of the people protesting as members of society fighting for justice.
