Unreal: TV’s dangerously favourable view of police and policing GlobeArts
Some of the findings do not surprise but resonate now: Those in charge, the showrunners, are overwhelmingly white men. In fact, 81 per cent of showrunners are white men and 78 per cent of writers are white men. Only 9 per cent of writers are Black Americans. Of the shows studied, 20 of the 26 series had either no Black writers or just one Black writer.
There are other disturbing factors – many police procedurals on network TV hire a current or recently retired police officer as a consultant, to ensure authenticity. Mostly, these are older white males who have experience in media relations for police services. What they offer is less than authenticity and more like propaganda. Interestingly, the study found that in the 353 episodes, there were only six examples of police officers being charged with crimes resulting from professional misconduct.
There is a ton of further information in the study, with supporting facts and figures. Yet it only serves to deepen a suspicion about the thematic resonance of those shows about crime fighters. That idea of constructing affinity for police officers made Criminal Minds and many other crime shows immensely successful and popular.have always candidly operated as a warning to viewers. They posit that there are dangerous criminals everywhere; that no one is safe and that blind trust in the police and other authority figures is the only protection against those dangerous people. They suggest that it’s a good idea to be cautious and armed at all times, even in your own home.
This moment in history, this change in perception about racism and police procedures, was fuelled with one horrific act of misconduct. The public’s tolerance evaporated, but existed for decades, in part because what was on TV was both fiction and propaganda. That Color of Change study found that on 18 of the 26 shows examined, wrongful actions by law enforcement was depicted as “routine, harmless, or necessary, or even noble.”Plan your screen time with the weekly What to Watch newsletter.
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