Ep. 60: Kitten Rescues, Lip-Syncing, and Christmas Traffic Stops: Your Guide to Clickbait Copaganda
Added 2018-12-12 16:00:27 +0000 UTCThe media – local and national, print and TV – love puff pieces designed to make the police look good and generally improve their overall brand with the public. More often than not, these human interest stories are typically fed to local news by the police themselves. This type of pseudo-journalism is most transparent in its most overly saccharin iteration, something we like to call clickbait copaganda.
Stories involving noble patrolmen rescuing cats from car engines, helping little Jimmy find his stolen bike, raising money for charity, coaching Little League, white cops hugging black kids or handing out Christmas presents all do well on social media and help burnish the police’s image in the age of Black Lives Matter.
On this week's episode, we examine the increasingly viral nature of pro-police agitprop, dissect how organic these stories actually are, and identify the five main types of clickbait copaganda.
Our guest is journalist Ashoka Jegroo.
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Guest
Ashoka Jegroo is a journalist, born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. His work can be found in The Appeal, Fusion, truthout and Mask Magazine. Follow him @AshAgony.
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Show Notes
In Shooting Simulator, Fairgoers Aim from Police Perspective
Kantele Franko | July 28, 2017 | Associated Press
No, the police can’t pull over drivers to give them gifts
Orin Kerr | August 2, 2016 | The Washington Post
NYPD paid Spike Lee $200K for work on ad campaign
Stephanie Pagones and Lia Eustachewich | August 16, 2018
Police, puppies and kittens team up for a good cause
Alexandra Corey | December 6, 2017 | KSDK 5
China's government is trying to hijack a viral meme for propaganda
Serenitie Wang & Ben Westcott | October 24, 2018 | CNN
Civil Asset Forfeiture: Explained
Waseem Salahi, Jessica Brand & Callie Heller | January 3, 2018 | The Appeal
Federal Judge Declares ‘Policing for Profit’ Unconstitutional
Steven Robert Allen | August 6, 2018 | ACLU
Janine Jackson | July 1, 1999 | FAIR
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Kitten Rescues
Officers saved trapped kitten from car engine (New York Post, August 1, 2014)
Cops save adorable kittens trapped in suitcase in cutest rescue ever (New York Post, March 15, 2015)
FDNY, NYPD rescue abandoned dog, 2 adorable kittens in separate incidents across city (New York Daily News, July 13, 2016)
Cop rescues kitten from car engine (New York Post, June 14, 2015)
Tiny kitty rescued from cop car engine (New York Post, June 24, 2015)
Transit cops hop onto tracks to rescue nervous Manhattan cat (New York Daily News, July 24, 2016)
NYPD cop saves cat hiding under SUV on busy Queens highway (New York Daily News, December 23, 2016)
Traffic Comes to a Halt, and a Kitten Is Saved (The New York Times, January 25, 2016)
Brooklyn’s 90th Precinct may get a new mascot after officers rescue 6 abandoned kittens (New York Daily News, March 16, 2016)
NYPD cop adopts kitten she helped rescue from discarded suitcase in Brooklyn (New York Daily News, May 2, 2016)
Cops rescue adorable kitten stuck underneath car (New York Post, June 6, 2016)
NYPD saves adorable kitten trapped in car's wheel well (New York Daily News, December 28, 2018)
Kitty trapped in car engine scratches elite NYPD officer (New York Post, January 10, 2017)
This kitten is the NYPD’s friskiest officer (New York Post, February 26, 2017)
Cops rescue kitten trapped in Queens storm drain (New York Post, August 23, 2017)
Kittens rescued near death from Brooklyn trash heap need loving home (New York Daily News, June 21, 2017)
NYPD cops rescue kitten trapped under car (New York Post, June 25, 2017)
Supurr heroes: Cops rescue kitten from Queens sewer (New York Daily News, June 19, 2018)
NYPD comes to rescue of tiny kitten stuck in engine in Manhattan (ABC7, August 15, 2018)
Let me-owt! Frightened kitty takes interborough ride under car hood, freed by NYPD (New York Daily News, October 19, 2018)
Kitten rescued from Q line tracks (New York Daily News, October 19, 2018)
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Transcript
For a transcript of the full episode, go here.
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Comments
That's fair. I wouldn't care so much if the issue hadn't become so important to the Democratic establishment, but I don't think it's as much of a distraction to lefties since they're already prioritizing core societal issues. On the other hand, there have been episodes about issues relatively low on the direness hierarchy before. I'd want to listen to it.
Ghostware
2018-12-15 18:42:07 +0000 UTCSeems like a bit of a distraction from far more important issues taking place right now with far more important implications.
David Blobaum
2018-12-15 15:06:33 +0000 UTCI didn't say "originated" specifically, since whatever the term might have originally meant it's used now in this fast and loose way to market gun laws based on the cosmetics of AKs and AR15s. Sorry if that wasn't clear. We can maybe have an honest conversation about high velocity intermediate cartridge semi automatic rifles (without creating a special exception for police and military like liberals do). However, in modern usage "assault weapon" is sold to the public as AR15s but often the laws are so broad as to affect rifles with vastly different potential for killing like the Ruger 10/22 and the Marlin model 70. A recent example is the Washington Initiative 1639 which labels all semi automatic rifles as "semiautomatic assault rifles". I know there are gun lobbies and that arms companies and their lobbies profit from and push for forever wars. I don't think there are any lefties or even liberals that don't know that pro-gun media is incredibly propagandistic and backed by gun manufacturers. I don't think that means the propaganda backed by billionaires and BS from civilian gun control lobbies should be repeated uncritically. The reason that there ought to be a Citations Needed episode about gun control media is because: 1. Gun control enforcement causes real harms, in the ways that all policing and crimes of possession do, by disproportionately targeting poor and marginalized people. 2. Gun control laws almost universally ignore root causes of violence and are a distraction from more core societal issues. 3. The only people that generally criticize gun control media is right wing media, which is full of its own trash garbage propaganda, and doesn't even make good arguments criticizing it.
Ghostware
2018-12-15 01:45:43 +0000 UTCSorry but you bought into a line of gun lobbyist BS right there. The term originated with the RAW or Rifleman's Assault Weapon rocket propelled grenade launcher attachment for the AR 15 developed in the 70's and used by the Marines in the 90's on a limited basis. You have to take into account there are lobbyist on both sides of the issue and the siphoning of time and energy also has to do with profit and the fact that the same people that profit from these weapons profit from the forever wars we can't seem to extricate ourselves from under the current inverted totalitarianism we find ourselves trapped within.
David Blobaum
2018-12-14 12:33:48 +0000 UTCGreat episode, wish the interview was longer.
Peter Hanneman
2018-12-13 16:09:12 +0000 UTCAdam, I noticed you unironically used the term "assault weapon" near the end of the episode. That's a total BS propaganda term used by civilian gun control lobbies and media. There's been a few pieces of media in the past few weeks that point out a lot of the problems and BS of gun control from a liberal/progressive perspective. Civilian gun control distracts and siphons time and energy away from issues that have much higher public health and safety outcomes. Next season of Citations Needed you all ought to tackle the media and BS in gun control rhetoric from a left perspective. I would say you should do a two parter for pro and anti, but corporate media actually cares enough to point out the flaws in mainstream pro gun rhetoric, so it might be redundant.
Ghostware
2018-12-13 04:48:04 +0000 UTCI blame the kitten collaborators.
Patrick Link
2018-12-12 18:17:04 +0000 UTC
