ABSTRACT
This chapter explores ethical issues around the media representation of policing and dissent. Iris Marion Young writes: “The philosopher is always socially situated, and if society is divided by oppressions, she either reinforces or struggles against them”. The central contention of this chapter is that Young’s claim applies to the journalist as much as the philosopher. They cannot be neutral between antagonistic interests and visions of society; their role is inescapably political. Section 1 (“Cops with Cameras”) is concerned with the ways that journalism as an institution can operate as an extension of police power. I criticise two aspects of mainstream coverage of policing and dissent: first, its co-option into doing police work (“Visibility Is a Trap”); second, its ideological role in legitimising oppressive policing (“The Selfie Stick of the Law”). Section 2 (“Representing Resistance / Resisting Representation”) asks what it means to “represent” dissent, examining generative tensions between “representational” and “post-representational” politics. It begins by investigating the risks and rewards of “committed” journalism (“Media from Below”). I show how media produced by, and in solidarity with, social movements and struggles can challenge dominant notions of what truth-apt inquiry looks like and whose testimony should be taken seriously. I then consider how the imperative to be media savvy – to engage in politics on a “spectacular” plane – shapes protest movements (“The Revolution Will Be Partially Televised”). The chapter concludes that journalists have an ethical and epistemic imperative to eschew the pretence of “neutral” observation in favour of active participation in dissent.
