Don’t Be A Copagandist! Series
Resource Guides for Media & Communicators
Compiled by Abolition Journalism Fellow Lewis Raven Wallace and partners, explore guides for media and communicators on how to avoid copaganda when covering issues of criminalization. While this series was written with journalists in mind, the guides offer helpful information and reminders that are useful for anyone, regardless of profession, who is interested in avoiding copaganda and being a more discerning consumer of media.
Visit our Abolition Journalism Fellow page for more guides, resources, and events made for communicators.
A Resource for Media on Covering “Crime” and Violence
Compiled by Mia Henry, Lewis Raven Wallace, and Andrea J. Ritchie with research from No More Police: A Case for Abolition
A resource for media and communicators on how (and how not) to cover “crime” and violence, including things to avoid, approaches for advancing abolitionist narratives, and additional reading and guides.
A Resource for Media Covering Atlanta Indictments
A resource for media and communicators on how (and how not) to cover the recent indictments of #StopCopCity organizers in Atlanta.
A Resource for Media on Covering Drug Use and the War on Drugs
By Interrupting Criminalization, Marijuana Justice, and the Drug Policy Alliance
A resource for journalists and communicators on how to avoid reproducing criminalizing narratives and focus on health, harm reduction, human dignity, and justice in drug coverage.
A Resource for Media on Covering Palestine and Israel
By Interrupting Criminalization. Co-sponsored by Adalah Justice Project, Migrant Roots Media, Press On, and Critical Resistance
A resource for media on how (and how not) to cover Palestine and Israel. This guide attempts to unpack a few key places where IDF propaganda shows up in news reporting, and also offers ways media can push back against IDF copaganda and examples of effective coverage.
A Resource for Media Covering Police Sexual Violence
This is a resource for journalists covering the issue of sexual violence by law enforcement agents, including police, school “resource” officers, school “safety” officers, private security stationed in schools, probation, parole, and immigration authorities, and Customs and Border Patrol.
A Resource for Media and Organizers Aimed at Transforming the Narrative About Migration
This guide for journalists is offered in the context of the ongoing and rapidly intensifying criminalization of migrants in the U.S. Immigrants to this country, particularly those who are racialized as Black and Brown, have been criminalized and targeted for detention, deportation, expulsion, and eradication for decades, to the point where Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) checkpoints, raids, and indefinite detention of migrant adults and children under abhorrent conditions have become normalized.