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Copaganda

February 28, 2023

Copaganda (a portmanteau of cop and propaganda) is a form of propaganda used to describe depictions of police in a positive (or excessively positive) light while obscuring negative qualities, most often through mass media, with the intent of swaying public opinion for the benefit of law enforcement.[1]

A Henderson Police Department cruiser next to a police promotional tent at the 2020 Nevada Law Enforcement Appreciation Day event

Copaganda has been criticized for being detrimental toward minority groups and victims of police misconduct and brutality, for obscuring criticism of police regardless of validity, and for creating an image of police as infallible heroes incapable of wrongdoing.[2][3][4][5][6]

History

 
Jack Webb (center, pointing) on the set of Dragnet, 1966. Many of Webb's works, including Dragnet, were endorsed and supported by the Los Angeles Police Department and were very pro-police, constituting an early form of copaganda.

Brenden Gallagher for The Daily Dot cites "saving kittens" stories and "Christmas gift surprise" stunts as "age-old versions of what we’re seeing today" and continues by stating that "Copaganda is so old, you can find it in Nick at Night reruns. The media has been regurgitating police PR since the days of Andy Griffith, and now in the era of Brooklyn 99, it is just being used more often and more effectively."[1]

Aaron Rahsaan Thomas comments on the history of copaganda in American television: "The past 60 years have seen shows like Dragnet (1951–59), The Untouchables (1959–63), and Adam 12 (1968–75) establish a formula where, within an hour of story, good law men, also known as square-jawed white cops, defeat bad guys, often known as poor people of color." Subsequent shows such as Hawaii Five-O (1968–80) and Kojak (1973–78) solidified this narrative, along with Hill Street Blues (1981–87), Miami Vice (1984–89), and Cagney & Lacey (1982–89), which were "for the most part, told from the point of view of white cops occasionally interacting with people of color who were, at best, one-dimensional criminals, colleagues, bosses, sidekicks, and best friends. Even when blackness was not equated with criminality, it was often supplemented by an inhuman lack of depth or presence."[3]

Without using the term copaganda, historian E.P. Thompson in the late 1970s drew attention to this phenomenon’s British manifestations. He observed a tendency towards the 'populist celebration of the servants of the state' exemplified on British television by the "homely neighbour and universal uncle, Dixon of Dock Green – the precursor to more truthfully-observed heroes of Z-Cars." He emphasised the impact of World War II and the early Cold War on views of the police held by the public and even the Labour Party: "The bureaucratic statism towards which Labour politicians increasingly drifted carried with it a rhetoric in which the state in all its aspects was seen as a public good… [T]he dividing line between welfare state and police state became obscure."[7]

Purpose

The purpose of copaganda is to sway public opinion for the benefit of law enforcement and redirect attention away from news which may generate a negative image of law enforcement.[4] In an article for The New York Times on a viral video of a Norfolk Police Department lip-sync battle, reporter Laura Holson describes this as one example in a larger trend of "videos of officers performing [which] have gone viral across the country, as departments step up outreach efforts and seek to improve their image" and characterized it as a "public relations dance." Corporal William Pickering, a public information officer with the Norfolk Police Department, which created the 'Uptown Funk' video stated "it is allowing the country to see us in another way."[8]

Brenden Gallagher describes that the purpose of copaganda is to win a public relations battle: "If a disproportionate number of articles about the police engaging in 'random' acts of kindness pop up in your feed, while stories about police corruption or abuse are suppressed or go uncovered completely, the public perception of the police eventually looks far different than the reality."[1] According to an academic study on "Media Power & Information Control: A Study of Police Organizations & Media Relations" for the National Institute of Justice:

Most citizens have little contact with law enforcement officers and their opinion of the police is often formed by the mass media's portrayal of our functions. The maintenance of good press relations is therefore a crucial element of public relations. Officers and employees must maintain good rapport with the media and deal with them in a courteous and impartial manner. It must be remembered that the media has a legitimate function in our society and the public trust of the police can be enhanced through proper dealings with the media (#1098-5). The mission ... is (1) to coordinate the release of accurate and timely information to the news media and the public and (2) to promote the positive image of [the Department]. The goals of [the Department] are to maintain public support ... by keeping the avenues of communication among the department, news media and citizenry open. The objectives ... are to utilize the media when attempting to stimulate public interest in departmental programs involving the community [and to] promote a feeling of teamwork between the police and media (#3800). [Officers shall] assume a pro-active approach in contacting the news media with information about the Department that might not otherwise come to their attention, but is newsworthy (#302.3).[9]

Ronnie Boyd describes the role of copaganda as an attempt to divert the public's attention from racism and racist policing in America: "stories of Black folx being shot, murdered, sexually assaulted, and harassed by the police have flooded the airwaves since Black folx started building power to draw public attention. Since then, police departments across the country have worked hard to redirect our attention. One of their strategies is 'copaganda.'"[4] Shanay Lemon for Blavity described copaganda as follows: "In the same effect of a celeb making an appearance at a pediatric burn-ward to save face after getting into controversial shenanigans, Copaganda is no different. It’s cheesy, borderline insulting and means nothing, especially if unarmed black bodies keep falling at the hands of cops."[10] Copaganda media has been shown in a study to reinforce racist misconceptions.[5]

Examples

 
A child petting a police dog at a Toronto Police Service open house event in 2019

News media are the most common outlets for copaganda, often taking the form of news stories about police officers performing simple tasks that can be construed as laudable by viewers.[1] Amidst the Ferguson unrest in 2014, a widely circulated news story and photographs of 12-year-old Devonte Hart hugging Portland Police Sergeant Bret Barnum, has been identified by critics as a prominent example of copaganda.[4] CBS News picked up the story in an article entitled "Amid Ferguson tension, emotional hug goes viral," with its opening line: "It's being called the hug felt 'round the world."[11]

In 2018, police lip-sync challenges received popular coverage in news media. USA Today called it "the hit social media trend of the summer" and created a bracket for police departments to submit videos of officers lip syncing to be voted on. The article stated that "nearly each of the lip sync videos that hits social media goes viral making everyone (viewer and video-maker alike) a winner."[12][13]

During the George Floyd protests, copaganda was identified as a widespread tactic of the police and media. Officers kneeling with protestors in performative displays of solidarity, sometimes moments before teargassing crowds,[14] and the media's focus on looting have been described as copaganda.[15] In the wake of the protests, calls to cancel copaganda television shows entered the mainstream discourse.[16] A&E's Live PD was cancelled and Paramount canceled Cops after 32 seasons.[17]

Major modern TV franchises such as Law & Order, NCIS and FBI and shows such as Scandal, Major Crimes, Chicago PD, Blue Bloods, Hawaii Five-0, Criminal Minds, Magnum P.I., S.W.A.T., and Rookie Blue have been described as portraying "copagandic narratives" to "outright applaud[ing] police" or "mindless glorification."[2][4][14] Dick Wolf, the producer of the Law & Order franchise, described himself as "unabashedly pro law enforcement."[18]

The National Law Enforcement Museum was described as "straight-up copaganda" in a review of the institution for The Washington Post, stating that it "leans more toward propaganda than education."[19] Bloomberg Businessweek reported that the museum was unpopular among the public and was projected to "default on some of the $103 million it borrowed in 2016."[20]

News reporting often discusses police shootings in the passive voice, sometimes using the phrase "officer-involved shooting",[21] which has been described as a euphemism or a form of copaganda.[22][23] Such language obscures the role the police played in the interaction being described. In the case of "officer-involved shooting", it obscures how the officer was involved in the shooting.[24] This practice is discouraged by NPR[22] and disallowed by the AP Stylebook in 2017.[24][25]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d Gallagher, Brenden (28 February 2020). "Just say no to viral 'copaganda' videos". Daily Dot.
  2. ^ a b Joseph, Funké (5 March 2019). "The Complications of Liking 'Brooklyn Nine-Nine' as a Black Man". Vice.
  3. ^ a b Thomas, Aaron Rahsaan (8 June 2020). "Is TV Finally Done With "Heroic" Cops? A Black Showrunner Says, "Hell F*cking No"". Vanity Fair.
  4. ^ a b c d e Boyd, Ronnie (5 January 2018). "Netflix's 'Bright' is copaganda, plain and simple". Afropunk.
  5. ^ a b Metz, Nina (13 February 2020). "Do cop shows like 'Chicago P.D.' reinforce misperceptions about race and criminal justice? A new study says yes". Chicago Tribune.
  6. ^ Pfarrer, Steve (31 January 2020). "Book Bag: 'Full Dissidence: Notes From an Uneven Playing Field' by Howard Bryant". Daily Hampshire Gazette.
  7. ^ Thompson, E.P. (1 January 1979). "The Secret State". Race & Class. 20 (3): 219–242. doi:10.1177/030639687902000301. ISSN 0306-3968. S2CID 145620868. Retrieved 15 May 2021.
  8. ^ Holson, Laura M. (23 July 2018). "Police Officers Lip-Sync as Part of Public Relations Dance". The New York Times.
  9. ^ Lovell, Jarret S. (2002). "Media Power & Information Control: A Study of Police Organizations & Media Relations" (PDF). The National Institute of Justice.
  10. ^ Lemon, Shanay (19 May 2017). "Why "Not All Cops Are Bad" Means Nothing". Blavity.
  11. ^ "Amid Ferguson tension, emotional hug goes viral". CBS News. 29 November 2014.
  12. ^ Scanlan, Sarah (24 August 2018). "Lip sync challenge: Police battle best songs in this video bracket". USA Today.
  13. ^ Grasso, Samantha (27 August 2018). "Police are competing for the 'best' viral lip sync challenge in the nation". The Daily Dot.
  14. ^ a b LeBlanc, Cameron (2 June 2020). "Let's Talk About That 'Brooklyn Nine-Nine' Scene That's Going Around". Fatherly.
  15. ^ Darville, Jordan (2 June 2020). "How to help in the George Floyd protests and beyond". The Fader.
  16. ^ Wilbur, Brock (10 June 2020). "The time has come to cancel 'copaganda' television, and it is long overdue". The Pitch.
  17. ^ Schneider, Michael (10 June 2020). "A&E Canceling 'Live PD' Following Ongoing Protests Against Police Brutality". Variety.
  18. ^ "Law & Order: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)". YouTube. September 12, 2022. Retrieved 3 February 2023.
  19. ^ Dingfelder, Sadie (7 February 2019). "The new National Law Enforcement Museum is straight-up copaganda". The Washington Post.
  20. ^ Albright, Amanda (18 March 2019). "Richard Belzer and Clint Eastwood Can't Save the Failing National Law Enforcement Museum". Bloomberg Businessweek.
  21. ^ Ciccariello-Maher, George (2021). A World Without Police: How Strong Communities Make Cops Obsolete. London: Verso Books. p. 35. ISBN 9781839760075. Retrieved 1 June 2022.
  22. ^ a b Memmott, Mark (7 July 2016). "Recommended Listening: Why Not To Use The Phrase "Officer-involved Shooting"". NPR. Retrieved 1 June 2022.
  23. ^ Frazier, Mya (7 August 2020). "Stop using 'officer-involved shooting'". Columbia Journalism Review. Retrieved 1 June 2022.
  24. ^ a b Soderberg, Brandon; Friedman, Andy (13 January 2022). "Major Media Outlets Can't Stop Describing Police Violence As 'Officer-Involved' Incidents". HuffPost. Retrieved 1 June 2022.
  25. ^ Iannelli, Jerry (12 October 2021). "Why the Media Won't Stop Using 'Officer-Involved Shootings'". The Appeal. Retrieved 1 June 2022.

February 28, 2023
copaganda, this, article, multiple, issues, please, help, improve, discuss, these, issues, talk, page, learn, when, remove, these, template, messages, examples, perspective, this, article, deal, primarily, with, united, states, represent, worldwide, view, subj. This article has multiple issues Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page Learn how and when to remove these template messages The examples and perspective in this article deal primarily with the United States and do not represent a worldwide view of the subject You may improve this article discuss the issue on the talk page or create a new article as appropriate February 2022 Learn how and when to remove this template message Some of this article s listed sources may not be reliable Please help this article by looking for better more reliable sources Unreliable citations may be challenged or deleted July 2022 Learn how and when to remove this template message This article may lend undue weight to certain ideas incidents or controversies Please help improve it by rewriting it in a balanced fashion that contextualizes different points of view July 2022 Learn how and when to remove this template message This article is written like a personal reflection personal essay or argumentative essay that states a Wikipedia editor s personal feelings or presents an original argument about a topic Please help improve it by rewriting it in an encyclopedic style November 2022 Learn how and when to remove this template message The neutrality of this article is disputed Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page Please do not remove this message until conditions to do so are met January 2023 Learn how and when to remove this template message Learn how and when to remove this template message Copaganda a portmanteau of cop and propaganda is a form of propaganda used to describe depictions of police in a positive or excessively positive light while obscuring negative qualities most often through mass media with the intent of swaying public opinion for the benefit of law enforcement 1 A Henderson Police Department cruiser next to a police promotional tent at the 2020 Nevada Law Enforcement Appreciation Day event Copaganda has been criticized for being detrimental toward minority groups and victims of police misconduct and brutality for obscuring criticism of police regardless of validity and for creating an image of police as infallible heroes incapable of wrongdoing 2 3 4 5 6 Contents 1 History 2 Purpose 3 Examples 4 See also 5 ReferencesHistory Edit Jack Webb center pointing on the set of Dragnet 1966 Many of Webb s works including Dragnet were endorsed and supported by the Los Angeles Police Department and were very pro police constituting an early form of copaganda Brenden Gallagher for The Daily Dot cites saving kittens stories and Christmas gift surprise stunts as age old versions of what we re seeing today and continues by stating that Copaganda is so old you can find it in Nick at Night reruns The media has been regurgitating police PR since the days of Andy Griffith and now in the era of Brooklyn 99 it is just being used more often and more effectively 1 Aaron Rahsaan Thomas comments on the history of copaganda in American television The past 60 years have seen shows like Dragnet 1951 59 The Untouchables 1959 63 and Adam 12 1968 75 establish a formula where within an hour of story good law men also known as square jawed white cops defeat bad guys often known as poor people of color Subsequent shows such as Hawaii Five O 1968 80 and Kojak 1973 78 solidified this narrative along with Hill Street Blues 1981 87 Miami Vice 1984 89 and Cagney amp Lacey 1982 89 which were for the most part told from the point of view of white cops occasionally interacting with people of color who were at best one dimensional criminals colleagues bosses sidekicks and best friends Even when blackness was not equated with criminality it was often supplemented by an inhuman lack of depth or presence 3 Without using the term copaganda historian E P Thompson in the late 1970s drew attention to this phenomenon s British manifestations He observed a tendency towards the populist celebration of the servants of the state exemplified on British television by the homely neighbour and universal uncle Dixon of Dock Green the precursor to more truthfully observed heroes of Z Cars He emphasised the impact of World War II and the early Cold War on views of the police held by the public and even the Labour Party The bureaucratic statism towards which Labour politicians increasingly drifted carried with it a rhetoric in which the state in all its aspects was seen as a public good T he dividing line between welfare state and police state became obscure 7 Purpose Edit A community policing event in Southend on Sea England The purpose of copaganda is to sway public opinion for the benefit of law enforcement and redirect attention away from news which may generate a negative image of law enforcement 4 In an article for The New York Times on a viral video of a Norfolk Police Department lip sync battle reporter Laura Holson describes this as one example in a larger trend of videos of officers performing which have gone viral across the country as departments step up outreach efforts and seek to improve their image and characterized it as a public relations dance Corporal William Pickering a public information officer with the Norfolk Police Department which created the Uptown Funk video stated it is allowing the country to see us in another way 8 Brenden Gallagher describes that the purpose of copaganda is to win a public relations battle If a disproportionate number of articles about the police engaging in random acts of kindness pop up in your feed while stories about police corruption or abuse are suppressed or go uncovered completely the public perception of the police eventually looks far different than the reality 1 According to an academic study on Media Power amp Information Control A Study of Police Organizations amp Media Relations for the National Institute of Justice Most citizens have little contact with law enforcement officers and their opinion of the police is often formed by the mass media s portrayal of our functions The maintenance of good press relations is therefore a crucial element of public relations Officers and employees must maintain good rapport with the media and deal with them in a courteous and impartial manner It must be remembered that the media has a legitimate function in our society and the public trust of the police can be enhanced through proper dealings with the media 1098 5 The mission is 1 to coordinate the release of accurate and timely information to the news media and the public and 2 to promote the positive image of the Department The goals of the Department are to maintain public support by keeping the avenues of communication among the department news media and citizenry open The objectives are to utilize the media when attempting to stimulate public interest in departmental programs involving the community and to promote a feeling of teamwork between the police and media 3800 Officers shall assume a pro active approach in contacting the news media with information about the Department that might not otherwise come to their attention but is newsworthy 302 3 9 Ronnie Boyd describes the role of copaganda as an attempt to divert the public s attention from racism and racist policing in America stories of Black folx being shot murdered sexually assaulted and harassed by the police have flooded the airwaves since Black folx started building power to draw public attention Since then police departments across the country have worked hard to redirect our attention One of their strategies is copaganda 4 Shanay Lemon for Blavity described copaganda as follows In the same effect of a celeb making an appearance at a pediatric burn ward to save face after getting into controversial shenanigans Copaganda is no different It s cheesy borderline insulting and means nothing especially if unarmed black bodies keep falling at the hands of cops 10 Copaganda media has been shown in a study to reinforce racist misconceptions 5 Examples Edit A child petting a police dog at a Toronto Police Service open house event in 2019 News media are the most common outlets for copaganda often taking the form of news stories about police officers performing simple tasks that can be construed as laudable by viewers 1 Amidst the Ferguson unrest in 2014 a widely circulated news story and photographs of 12 year old Devonte Hart hugging Portland Police Sergeant Bret Barnum has been identified by critics as a prominent example of copaganda 4 CBS News picked up the story in an article entitled Amid Ferguson tension emotional hug goes viral with its opening line It s being called the hug felt round the world 11 In 2018 police lip sync challenges received popular coverage in news media USA Today called it the hit social media trend of the summer and created a bracket for police departments to submit videos of officers lip syncing to be voted on The article stated that nearly each of the lip sync videos that hits social media goes viral making everyone viewer and video maker alike a winner 12 13 During the George Floyd protests copaganda was identified as a widespread tactic of the police and media Officers kneeling with protestors in performative displays of solidarity sometimes moments before teargassing crowds 14 and the media s focus on looting have been described as copaganda 15 In the wake of the protests calls to cancel copaganda television shows entered the mainstream discourse 16 A amp E s Live PD was cancelled and Paramount canceled Cops after 32 seasons 17 Major modern TV franchises such as Law amp Order NCIS and FBI and shows such as Scandal Major Crimes Chicago PD Blue Bloods Hawaii Five 0 Criminal Minds Magnum P I S W A T and Rookie Blue have been described as portraying copagandic narratives to outright applaud ing police or mindless glorification 2 4 14 Dick Wolf the producer of the Law amp Order franchise described himself as unabashedly pro law enforcement 18 The National Law Enforcement Museum was described as straight up copaganda in a review of the institution for The Washington Post stating that it leans more toward propaganda than education 19 Bloomberg Businessweek reported that the museum was unpopular among the public and was projected to default on some of the 103 million it borrowed in 2016 20 News reporting often discusses police shootings in the passive voice sometimes using the phrase officer involved shooting 21 which has been described as a euphemism or a form of copaganda 22 23 Such language obscures the role the police played in the interaction being described In the case of officer involved shooting it obscures how the officer was involved in the shooting 24 This practice is discouraged by NPR 22 and disallowed by the AP Stylebook in 2017 24 25 See also EditCIA influence on public opinion Work with entertainment Officer Friendly Black Lives Matter Blue Lives Matter Thin blue line Propaganda WartimeReferences Edit a b c d Gallagher Brenden 28 February 2020 Just say no to viral copaganda videos Daily Dot a b Joseph Funke 5 March 2019 The Complications of Liking Brooklyn Nine Nine as a Black Man Vice a b Thomas Aaron Rahsaan 8 June 2020 Is TV Finally Done With Heroic Cops A Black Showrunner Says Hell F cking No Vanity Fair a b c d e Boyd Ronnie 5 January 2018 Netflix s Bright is copaganda plain and simple Afropunk a b Metz Nina 13 February 2020 Do cop shows like Chicago P D reinforce misperceptions about race and criminal justice A new study says yes Chicago Tribune Pfarrer Steve 31 January 2020 Book Bag Full Dissidence Notes From an Uneven Playing Field by Howard Bryant Daily Hampshire Gazette Thompson E P 1 January 1979 The Secret State Race amp Class 20 3 219 242 doi 10 1177 030639687902000301 ISSN 0306 3968 S2CID 145620868 Retrieved 15 May 2021 Holson Laura M 23 July 2018 Police Officers Lip Sync as Part of Public Relations Dance The New York Times Lovell Jarret S 2002 Media Power amp Information Control A Study of Police Organizations amp Media Relations PDF The National Institute of Justice Lemon Shanay 19 May 2017 Why Not All Cops Are Bad Means Nothing Blavity Amid Ferguson tension emotional hug goes viral CBS News 29 November 2014 Scanlan Sarah 24 August 2018 Lip sync challenge Police battle best songs in this video bracket USA Today Grasso Samantha 27 August 2018 Police are competing for the best viral lip sync challenge in the nation The Daily Dot a b LeBlanc Cameron 2 June 2020 Let s Talk About That Brooklyn Nine Nine Scene That s Going Around Fatherly Darville Jordan 2 June 2020 How to help in the George Floyd protests and beyond The Fader Wilbur Brock 10 June 2020 The time has come to cancel copaganda television and it is long overdue The Pitch Schneider Michael 10 June 2020 A amp E Canceling Live PD Following Ongoing Protests Against Police Brutality Variety Law amp Order Last Week Tonight with John Oliver HBO YouTube September 12 2022 Retrieved 3 February 2023 Dingfelder Sadie 7 February 2019 The new National Law Enforcement Museum is straight up copaganda The Washington Post Albright Amanda 18 March 2019 Richard Belzer and Clint Eastwood Can t Save the Failing National Law Enforcement Museum Bloomberg Businessweek Ciccariello Maher George 2021 A World Without Police How Strong Communities Make Cops Obsolete London Verso Books p 35 ISBN 9781839760075 Retrieved 1 June 2022 a b Memmott Mark 7 July 2016 Recommended Listening Why Not To Use The Phrase Officer involved Shooting NPR Retrieved 1 June 2022 Frazier Mya 7 August 2020 Stop using officer involved shooting Columbia Journalism Review Retrieved 1 June 2022 a b Soderberg Brandon Friedman Andy 13 January 2022 Major Media Outlets Can t Stop Describing Police Violence As Officer Involved Incidents HuffPost Retrieved 1 June 2022 Iannelli Jerry 12 October 2021 Why the Media Won t Stop Using Officer Involved Shootings The Appeal Retrieved 1 June 2022 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Copaganda amp oldid 1138963510, 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