copaganda

English

Etymology

A blend of cop +‎ propaganda.

Pronunciation

• (UK, Ireland) IPA^(key): /ˌkɒpəˈɡændə/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˌkɑpəˈɡændə/

Noun

copaganda (uncountable)

1. (derogatory) Media that contains propagandistic pro-police messages.

   The movie had a clear example of copaganda when FBI agents were portrayed as good guys when they were clearly in the wrong.

   • 2009 August 21, William McClymont, Twitter‎^[1]:

     Sick of all these Copaganda shows on TV. Are these the same cops that hide in vans every weekend and take 45 mins to respond to 999 calls?

   • 2015 May 4, Dave Zirin, “‘The Game Done Changed’: Reconsidering ‘The Wire’ Amidst the Baltimore Uprising”, in The Nation‎^[2], archived from the original on February 15, 2019:

     That David Simon could tell people with bricks in their hand to “go home,” and have no direct words of condemnation for the violence displayed by the police made me remember my friend Dashon — from Baltimore — who told me he would never watch The Wire because he believed it to be “copaganda,” since it was created not only by Simon but by longtime Baltimore police officer Ed Burns.

   • 2016 February 23, Adam Johnson, “The 8 Most Popular Types of ‘Copaganda’: How the Police Play the Media”, in AlterNet‎^[3], archived from the original on February 15, 2019:

     To counter this, police reform and police abolitionist activists on Twitter have invented a rather useful term: "Copaganda." Copaganda is any news story that uncritically advances a police department's image or helps undermine reform efforts. Here are eight of the most common forms of copaganda.

   • 2018 July 25, Brendan Gallagher, “Just say no to viral ‘copaganda’ videos”, in The Daily Dot‎^[4], archived from the original on February 15, 2019:

     However, while an article about Robert Downey Jr. visiting a child dying of leukemia doesn’t have an impact on the public perception of criminal justice, copaganda does.