What Journalism Needs Is Not More Diversity, but Less White Supremacy
Media need to stop saying “missteps” when they mean sustained, systemic failures. Journalists ought to speak plainly, including when they’re talking to themselves.
‘To Tell Stories of Communities That Are Authentic and Genuine, You Have to Have a Conversation’
“It does make sense that for the people who are trying to amplify the voices of people who are resisting police violence, that the police might not be too happy about that.”
Writers Guild East Leading Charge to Take Cops Out of Labor
The demand to expel police unions from mainstream labor organizations was once a fringe demand. Now, in the wake of the ongoing Black Lives Matter uprising, the demand is taking center stage in labor news, and the Writers Guild of America East—which has been proactive in organizing new media newsrooms—is leading the charge to […]
Maritza Perez on Overpolicing & Drugs, Remington Gregg on Corporate Immunity
Overpolicing and violent policing have much to do with the so-called war on drugs, which serves as a pretext for the harassment of individuals and entire communities of black and brown people.
Media Acknowledge Drive to Defund Police—but Seek to Blunt Its Radical Edge
Today, even as ideas for police reform that barely surfaced in corporate media in the past are becoming part of the mainstream conversation, media continue to try to steer that conversation away from its radical edge.
It Won’t Be Protests That Bring On the Next Big Wave of Covid Infections
If we’ve been listening to what epidemiologists have told us about the coronavirus, there are reasons to believe that the protests will not have a major impact on the pandemic’s trajectory.
Media Are Slowly Starting to Be Serious About Police Violence
Even when outlets described the rampant police violence against protesters, the language used still protected police from scrutiny.
Reporting Curfews Through Official Eyes
according to leading media narratives, the curfews aren’t deliberate measures of cruelty that infringe upon fundamental rights; they’re the hard but necessary choice that dedicated city officials must make in the interest of public safety.
Top 16 Euphemisms US Headline Writers Used for Police Beating the Shit Out of People
“After Curfew, Detroit Police Act Aggressively to Disperse Protesters Who Refused to Leave” (Detroit Free Press, 5/31/20) “Minneapolis Officers Use More Aggressive Tactics Against Protesters as Rallies Flare Around US” (NBC News, 5/31/20) “An Agitated Trump Encourages Governors to Use Aggressive Tactics on Protesters” (CNN, 6/1/20) “Police Turn More Aggressive Against Protesters and Bystanders […]
‘The People Capturing Police Violence on Video Are the Ones Enhancing Public Safety’
“More people are coming to consider that racist policing cannot be ‘reformed’ with an occasional lawsuit and some implicit-bias classes. CounterSpin has had unfortunate occasion to discuss the issue many times.”
Alex Vitale, Chase Madar and Shahid Buttar on Racist Policing
More people are coming to consider that racist policing cannot be “reformed” with an occasional lawsuit and some implicit-bias classes. CounterSpin has had unfortunate occasion to discuss the issue many times.
Media Smeared Ahmaud Arbery After His Lynching
While it took two and a half months for the authorities to finally make arrests in the killing of Ahmaud Arbery, corporate media were much quicker to follow the time-honored practice of besmirching victims of racist violence.
The ‘Total Anarchy’ of Wet Cops
For some, seeing a cop humiliated suggests a breakdown of society in a way that seeing a cop engaging in the humiliation and abuse of a black person does not.
Deborah Vagins on Gender Pay Gap, Nusrat Choudhury on the New COINTELPRO
When the subject is the fact that women continue to be paid less than men for the same work—and women of color still less—such a lot of the conversation is not about how we can fix the problem quickly and concretely, but about whether the numbers really say what they seem to.
Hannah Hetzer on New War on Drugs, John Conroy & Jamie Kalven on Chicago Police Violence
At a sort of glorified photo op, Trump announced a new plan for the “world drug problem” that reflects a return to inhumane and disproven approaches.
Peter Bibring on Excessive Force Law, Peggy Case on Right to Water
The Supreme Court has just ruled that if a police officer doesn’t understand that they are violating your Constitutional rights–they aren’t.
‘Calling for Change Is Not a Crime’
“Black and brown voices for accountability and for change, and particularly around policing, have historically been viewed as deeply threatening.”
‘Violence’ Becomes ‘Unruliness’ When It’s Sports Fans, Not BLM Protesters, Breaking Rules
Despite the fact that the property destruction in the aftermath of Sunday night’s unrest was similar in scope to the damage caused by protests against police killings of young black men over the past three years, only the latter is regularly called “violence.”
Alex Vitale on The End of Policing
We may hear editorial calls for better training, or more data, or sometimes even convictions of individual officers. But somehow we never see the problem of policing whole, so the deeper reckoning necessary for real change is forestalled.
