Copaganda: How Police and the Media Manipulate Our News

In this groundbreaking expose essential for understanding rising authoritarianism, award-winning civil rights lawyer Alec Karakatsanis introduces the concept of “Copaganda.”

Copaganda is a special kind of propaganda employed by police, prosecutors, and news media to stoke fear of police-recorded crime and distort society’s response to it.

What readers will discover:

How mass media manipulates our perception of what keeps us safe.

Why fear of poor people, strangers, immigrants, unhoused people, and people of color is deliberately cultivated.

The ways this fear leads to authoritarian repression, inequality, and massive profits for the punishment bureaucracy.

Why it matters:
For readers of Naomi Klein and Noam Chomsky, Copaganda shows how modern news coverage fuels insecurity and distracts us from policies that would truly improve lives and make us safer—like reducing inequality, expanding housing, and investing in healthcare, early childhood education, and climate-friendly city planning.

Hidden in plain sight:

When your local TV station obsessively reports on shoplifting but ignores wage theft, tax evasion, and environmental pollution.

When podcasts talk about a “shortage” of prison guards rather than too many people in prison.

When newspapers quote “experts” calling for more money for police and prisons despite scientific evidence to the contrary.

About the author:
Recognized by Teen Vogue as “one of the most prominent voices” on issues of law and justice, Alec Karakatsanis combines sharp legal expertise, trenchant political analysis, and humorous storytelling to transform the way we consume information.

The result:
A hopeful path forward—towards a healed humanity and a media system invested in real public safety and equality.