Nieman Foundation at Harvard
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Articles tagged police (4)

“There are commercial reasons why some newsrooms focus on the spectacle and confrontation — the old journalism adage of ‘if it bleeds, it leads’ still prevails in many newsroom decisions…But it is a decision that delegitimizes protest aims.”
As a scholar who researches media coverage of police and protests, I believe Toledo’s death exposes a blind spot in journalism: a tendency to go with the “police said” narrative without outwardly questioning if it is right.
I learned during a police surveillance trial that the Memphis Police Department spied on me and three other journalists.
“Although in some incidents it is possible the journalists were hit or affected accidentally, in the majority of the cases we have recorded the journalists are clearly identifiable as press, and it is clear that they are being deliberately targeted.”