User:DesSantiago/Copaganda

Intro (will go in first few sentences)
Copaganda is a fairly new concept that has not been broadly studied, so there are no peer-reviewed sources. The newness of copaganda has also resulted in little to no resources that study worldwide perspectives rather than just the United States.

Purpose (already a section)
(from original article): 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.'" Copaganda media has been shown in a study to reinforce racist misconceptions.

Copaganda in Television (new section)
One example of demonstrating copaganda throughout time has been through the aid of television shows that valorize and take the perspective of police officers. These types of shows work in developing the bad guy-good guy perspective that people will then baste rest of their lives on when thinking of cops. First aired in 1989, Cops is one of the shows that focused on police officer's perspective and was a key component of shaping viewers' perspective of police especially if they have had no form of police encounter on their own. 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, and the media's focus on looting have been described as copaganda. Copaganda was exposed as a way to minimize victim's side of the story and in turn worked in ending production of Cops along with many other shows. Despite the cancellation of Cops, there are still over twenty percent of media shows that show law enforcement officials.

(from original article): 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." Dick Wolf, the producer of the Law & Order franchise, described himself as "unabashedly pro law enforcement." In the wake of the protests, calls to cancel copaganda television shows entered the mainstream discourse. A&E's Live PD was cancelled and Paramount canceled Cops after 32 seasons.

Copaganda in Social Media & News (new section)
(original): 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.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. 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."

News reporting often discusses police shootings in the passive voice, sometimes using the phrase "officer-involved shooting", which has been described as a euphemism or a form of copaganda. 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. This practice is discouraged by NPR and disallowed by the AP Stylebook in 2017.

(original): 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."

In addition to the tactics of copaganda through television shows and news media, there are also plenty of copaganda tactics being used on social media. During the George Floyd protests, there was a viral video of a police office going around singing a song about a "good cop". There have also been multiple instances of officers posting pictures on social media cites of their good deeds, such as posing with a child, participating in viral trends, etc. These tactics may give citizens a mixed perception of police officers, and almost flush out the bad history or experiences with police.

Other Examples:
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." 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."