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. @DeanMeminger just suggested that this gang of militarized bike cops responsible for so much brutality are “superheroes” to some. #stopcopaganda https://twitter.com/deanmeminger/status/1329149603128750091
What makes this piece from @DeanMeminger copaganda? For starters it builds off of a soft, friendly and likely @NYPDnews manufactured pro-cop 2018 fluff piece by him on the NYPD Strategic Response Group (SRGs)... https://www.ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/news/2018/08/21/what-it-takes-to-be-an-nypd-bike-patrol-officer
Pieces like this typically stem from @NYPDDCPI and their office, which function as a PR arm of the NYPD. Their goal is to humanize cops while making the public believe that cops can do no wrong. And when they do, it’s an isolated incident.
Here is a similar story regarding @JoshEiniger7 and @ABC7NY and their consistent #copaganda that we covered a couple weeks ago... https://www.instagram.com/p/CHdljEHFgxx/?igshid=18e2q438birrt
Back to yesterday’s story. @DeanMeminger says that “some” say NYPD SRGs “look like superheroes”. But when you watch the piece, there are no sources who say this. Who are the people saying this? This seems to be pure editorializing. For what? https://twitter.com/deanmeminger/status/1329149603128750091
In this case characterizing cops (esp those wearing full body armor who have been the main group responsible for brutalizing protestors since May) as superheroes helps counterbalance the impact of saying others think they’re villains. Except the former position has no source.
Without this purely manufactured point of view, the story would read “NYPD SRGs Viewed as Villains” and we all know that @NYPDDCPI wouldn’t cooperate with @NY1 and its reporters after running a story (however accurate it may be) like that.
At least @NY1 and @DeanMeminger did at least include two protestors as sources, which is more than most outlets have done over the past few months. Still, the story is dominated by NYPD presence and messaging up until the end when these two sources are brought in for sound bites.
The end result of all of this is a story that near-completely discounts the reality of how violent NYPD SRGs are, and just how badly they’ve brutalized protestors for the last six months. It does this in favor of giving cops entirely too much undeserved credit.
