Give Killer Cops a Break, Says NYT
The message from the NY Times: Police officers who shoot unarmed civilians need to be be given the benefit of the doubt.
CNN Attempts Actual Journalism—but Reverts to Embedded Reporting
Watching coverage of the unrest in Ferguson on CNN last night (8/18/14), I was struck at the actual journalism I was treated to by CNN‘s Jake Tapper. It’s not every day corporate media is awestruck by the heavy-handedness of a militarized attack on civilians on US soil. But such was the case for Tapper, who […]
Has the Right Really Shifted on Police Militarization and Abuse?
It would be wonderful if more Republicans–and, for that matter, more Democrats–were speaking out about police abuses and related issues. But treating one lawmaker’s op-ed as a sign of a fundamental shift on the right seems a bit of an overreach.
USA Today Changes Its Mind About Ferguson Police
USA Today’s original headline: “Police Seek Order as Ferguson Furor Builds.”
Criminal Justice Media’s ‘Twisted’ Coverage
Daryl Khan of the Juvenile Justice Information Exchange strayed from most media coverage around New York’s “biggest gang raid ever” by writing about the people living in the housing projects at the heart of the early-morning raid.
NY Post’s Stop-and-Frisk Scare
The New York Post is suggesting New York City is seeing the beginning of a scary crime wave. Turns out (surprise!) the Post is mostly full of it.
Stopping Short on Stop and Frisk
The New York Times (12/1/99) reported in 1999 the finding of an investigation by state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer that the New York Police Department’s “stop and frisk” program unfairly targeted black and Hispanic people. “Police officials have long contended that the disparity was based on the fact that most people are stopped in poor, […]
Did the NYT Coverage of Occupy Wall Street Just Get WORSE?
Under the somewhat nonsensical headline, “Wall Street Demonstrations Test Police Trained for Bigger Threats,” New York Times reporter Joseph Goldstein may have managed to turn in (9/27/11) a more offensive piece than Ginia Bellafante’s June 25 dispatch (picked apart by Allison Kilkenny here). The piece begins: When members of the loose protest movement known as […]
After London Police Killing, Media Focus on Problem of Police Restraint
Much of the media coverage of the riots in England dwells on the issue of police restraint. There is a “public backlash against police restraint,” the Washington Post explained (8/11/11), with some wanting “a tougher response to the rash of disturbances that has sullied Britain’s image.” The problem is the “seemingly halting, even timorous, policing,” […]
Daniel Ellsberg on WikiLeaks, A.C. Thompson on New Orlean police shootings
Download MP3 This week on CounterSpin: The release of tens of thousands of Afghan War documents by the organization WikiLeaks has met with some confusion in the media, who seem to want to downplay its importance but who also insist that WikiLeaks and its founder are dangerous and irresponsible. Daniel Ellsberg, who leaked The Pentagon […]
‘Perp Walks’ and Ride-Alongs
The “perp walk,” in which recent arrestees are paraded for news cameras, and the “ride along,” in which media accompany cops on the job, are standard features of mainstream media’s reporting on crime. But both practices, which involve close relationships between reporters and police, have been challenged by courts in recent months. Media aren’t […]
Witness for the Prosecution:
NPR slants the case against Mumia Abu-Jamal
After attacks from police groups, National Public Radio quickly backed away from its plan to air commentaries by Pennsylvania death row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal. Abu-Jamal, an African-American journalist, received a death sentence after being convicted in the December 1981 shooting death of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner—in a trial marred by gross procedural errors. NPR […]
Alternative Media: Going Beyond Police Sources to Uncover Police Abuse
For most mainstream papers, police reporting means relying mainly on police sources—a practice that contributes to the undercoverage of police brutality. The impact that an independent reporter can have by listening to unofficial sources points out the importance of alternative media —and the influence such outlets can have on the mainstream. On Nov. 15, 1992, […]
