Sarah dreams of beansQuestion for #journalists -- do you avoid naming cops even when their names are available?
I know police departments rarely release names of police, even when they get fired for misconduct. But then sometimes I wonder whether the names were available and just left out of news stories?
Like this is an article about a court finding that RCMP violated people's rights. No RCMP are named, but several protestors and the judge are fully identified.
The baseline level of secrecy around police makes it confusing as a reader, for me at least. Does this mean the court didn't know any names either, or that the finding was about "the RCMP" as a group, or just that the journalist left out the names?
https://thetyee.ca/News/2025/02/19/RCMP-Violated-Charter-Rights-CGL-Arrests/
One time at a club, a friend apologized for showing up late.
Late friend: "Sorry, I dropped a full coffee pot and had to clean up"
Journalist friend: "Oh my god! What was it full of?"
So I assume journalists are usually asking for all the details, but I wonder if police are a special case 🤷
One more related example. I'm sure a separate person writes the photo captions, but the 4th photo in this article is captioned "Anti-logging protesters at Fairy Creek on Sept. 29, 2021" when there are also at least 4 cops in the frame, including the central subject. A whole other level to not even name that police *exist*.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/crcc-investigation-delays-rcmp-cirg-1.6934274
RCMP watchdog concerned with delays in B.C. C-IRG probe | CBC News
The RCMP’s federal review agency has hired an Indigenous-led law firm amid concerns around delays as it investigates the Community-Industry Response Group, special unit created to police civil disobedience against pipeline expansion in B.C.
Tanek Rune@beandreams
Even if the journalist isn't trying to, they may subconsciously not want to speak on RCMP or police officers. Unless the journalist is stopping to think about the power imbalance and correcting for that, it's bound to be the case that they will just opt to not stir tensions that could come back on them.
Even if the journalist doesn't register that they are uncomfortable challenging the institutionalized power, they're often acting in a way that doesn't step on powerful toes.
@beandreams
I wish more journalists had spines. The cartoons lied as much as copaganda does.
I wish more journalists had spines. The cartoons lied as much as copaganda does.
dragonfrog@beandreams I love that follow up question! I'd have assumed the coffee pot was full of coffee, and it probably was - but what if there was a fascinating story for why it was full of trilobite fossils? You'd never hear that story if you didn't ask.