- As protests against racism and police violence continue across the US, TV shows focused on police perspectives have faced scrutiny.
- Shows focused on law-enforcement professionals have long been a staple in TV, and were the top three scripted shows of the 2018-2019 TV season, according to Nielsen ratings.
- An extensive report by the nonprofit advocacy organization Color of Change, released in January, studied 26 crime-related scripted TV shows during the 2017-2018 TV season and 353 episodes.
- The report found that “wrongful actions” by criminal-justice professionals, including overt racism and use of physical force, were rarely investigated or acknowledged by other characters.
- It was more likely for the victim of a crime to be a white man in these shows than a person of color, and it was notably rare for the victim to be a Black woman, according to the report.
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As protests against racism and police violence continue across the US following the death of George Floyd, fictional depictions of law enforcement have been scrutinized, as well.
The NBC comedy “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” faced pressure to address police violence on the show, which continued after the cast and showrunner donated $100,000 to the National Bail Fund Network to support protesters. Some on Twitter called the series, and other police-focused shows, “propaganda.”
“TV has long had a police’s-eye perspective that helps shape the way viewers see the world, prioritizing the victories and struggles of police over communities being policed,” Kathryn VanArendonk wrote for Vulture earlier this month.
Police procedurals are among the most popular series on network TV. Among the 25 most watched scripted shows of the 2018-2019 TV season, according to Nielsen ratings, more than a dozen were about law-enforcement professionals, including the top three: “NCIS, “FBI,” and “Blue Bloods” (all on CBS).
But this popularity doesn't mean they accurately depict police conduct.
An extensive report by the nonprofit advocacy organization Color of Change, released in January, studied 26 crime-related scripted TV shows during the 2017-2018 TV season and 353 episodes. The report concluded that these TV shows normalized reckless behavior by police and didn't accurately portray police interactions with people of color.
Law-enforcement professionals are the protagonists of these TV shows and often resort to "wrongful actions" in their roles that are rarely reprimanded, according to the report. Examples of wrongful actions in the report included overt racism, coercion and intimidation, excessive physical force or verbal aggression, and rule violations.
"What is normalized is the police's ability to be above the law to achieve 'justice,'" Rashid Shabazz, the Color of Change marketing and storytelling chief, told Business Insider. "They're not following the rules that would allow the safety of everybody. You see tactics being used that are justified and normalized that spill out into the real world. You see a merger of perception and reality, but the reality has left Black and brown people in harm's way of police."
Beyond normalizing wrongful actions, the shows also often presented an inaccurate portrayal of the reality people of color face when confronted by law enforcement, the report said. For instance, the shows failed to depict people of color as being disproportionately affected by excessive physical force by police, the study found.
Here are some of the key findings of the report:
- Out of the 353 episodes of crime-related television studied, there were only six discussions of criminal-justice reform.
- There were three times as many depictions of criminal-justice professionals committing wrongful actions as there were characters acknowledging those actions.
- Of 453 wrongful actions, only 13 were investigated within the show, or 3.7%.
- The likelihood of a crime victim being a white man was 35%, while depictions of Black women being victims of any crime were rare, at 9%.
- Excessive force by police was portrayed as "rare and not as harmful" with 45 instances, and those instances were "not represented as affecting people of color disproportionately."
Hollywood has taken some steps amid the widespread protests to address police TV.
Paramount Network, owned by ViacomCBS, canceled the long-running "Cops" program after more than 30 seasons and A&E did not run new episodes of "Live PD" over the weekend. Both are reality programs.
The major networks have all expressed solidarity with the protesters and the Black community. ViacomCBS said it would donate $5 million to organizations "working tirelessly to end systemic racism." Comcast, the parent company of NBCUniversal, said it would commit "$100 million to a comprehensive, multiyear plan focused on social justice, our employees, awareness & education, digital equity and small businesses."
But Shabazz said that steps need to be taken that would reflect accountability for law-enforcement professionals on TV and the experiences of people of color.
"These shows have erased the reality of Black and brown people and have to a large degree been a propaganda arm to law enforcement," he said. "These shows have reinforced a standard and practice that will continue to harm communities of color. Art and culture have the ability to shape the world that we want to see. A call to hold these shows accountable would be important. These shows and their narratives have the power to save lives."