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P-C Mugshot 
: A staple in many newspapers is the mug shot gallery. As newsrooms went online, many found these to be some of the most popular features on their website, accounting for a large volume of traffic and potential ad dollars. 1/
: A staple in many newspapers is the mug shot gallery. As newsrooms went online, many found these to be some of the most popular features on their website, accounting for a large volume of traffic and potential ad dollars. 1/
Galleries sat on publications like the Press-Citizen as daily side-shows deriving clicks from the misfortune of others. Given the history of disproportionate policing of poor and nonwhite communities in our country, this shame was never meted equitably. 2/ https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/10.2105/AJPH.2018.304851
Additionally, the move online created new problems for those who ended up in gallery: their name, picture and the alleged crime in the caption stayed online where they lived forever. 3/ https://www.themarshallproject.org/2017/06/03/mugged
However, there is growing awareness that this is a morally bankrupt practice relying on uncritical, verbatim printing of what are essentially press releases form police departments. Biloxi Sun Harold, New Haven Independent and Houston Chronicle have all refuse these galleries. 4/
I'm happy to say that due to a great deal of hard work from @hillarymojeda, the Press-Citizen's long-standing publication of mug shot galleries ended quietly during the pandemic. I'm disappointed it took us this long. 5/
Last week, it came to my attention our website's third-party ad server was still recommending readers to old mug shot galleries. The link may have resulted in an error code. But as far as I'm concerned, that was still us continuing the practice. 6/ https://twitter.com/bergus/status/1285347131679821824?s=20
I've checked in with the team that works on our website, and they said that now these galleries are not just unpublished from our website but removed from the ad server.
To be clear: this remains a failure on our part. We failed to enact the ethical guidelines we agreed to. 7/
To be clear: this remains a failure on our part. We failed to enact the ethical guidelines we agreed to. 7/
Mug shot galleries were a widespread systemic practice of our paper. But as I've learned, changing our policy DOES NOT change our system. It's a start, but for the better world we want, it will take ongoing vigilance, examination and listening. 8/
I spent time this weekend looking for traces of mug shot galleries on our site and will continue to search for their remanents. I'm also thankful for any help or tips in finding these galleries. My DMs are, as always, open. 9/
We cannot legitimately hold a town accountable for its actions, if we are not in-turn accountable for ours. A big thanks to @bergus, @ItsMeKatyB and @Sara_BarronIC for you work. 10/
