As Policing on TV Faces Scrutiny, Nearly Half of Public Thinks Shows Reflect Real Life

作为全国抗议警察暴行有限公司ntinue in the wake of the alleged murder of George Floyd, police and detective television shows are facing new scrutiny for the role they play in furthering societal perceptions about law enforcement and criminals. And new Morning Consult polling offers a look at how Americans view policing on television, including which shows they believe depict police most accurately.

A June 11-13 Morning Consult/The Hollywood Reporter poll found that 45 percent of adults overall -- and 48 percent of black adults -- believe that TV shows focused on police and law enforcement accurately reflect policing and the criminal justice system in the country. However, 56 percent of all respondents and 59 percent of black respondents also said these programs should change to better represent the criminal justice system.

受访者也被问及他们认为洛杉矶w enforcement should be viewed on television. Forty-three percent of adults -- including 45 percent of white respondents and one-third of black adults -- said that police officers should be portrayed as heroes in TV programs. Black adults were nearly twice as likely (41 percent) as white adults (21 percent) to say that law enforcement officers should not be depicted in a sympathetic light.

“Cops,” the long-running reality show that Paramount Network canceled on June 9 in the midst of surging support in public opinion for the Black Lives Matter movement, provided the most accurate depiction of police, according to 52 percent of adults. For black respondents, more than half (55 percent), said the scripted drama “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit” came closest to reality. Forty-one percent of all respondents and 44 percent of black adults found “Live PD” -- which has also been canceled after filming the death of a man in police custody and destroying the footage -- to be an accurate representation of policing in the United States.

Reality programs and scripted dramas about law enforcement have faced criticism over the years for the way they depict policing. A January study from the nonprofit organizationColor of Change, which analyzed dynamics and wrongful actions in 353 episodes of 26 scripted, crime-related TV series, found that cop shows rarely depict law enforcement’s disproportionate targeting of black people or systematic bias overall. CBS’ police procedural “Blue Bloods” performed particularly poorly, per the analysis, with criminal justice professional characters committing more wrongful actions than any other show included in the study.

In 2019, documentary filmmaker Dan Taberski launched apodcast, based on an 18-month investigation into “Cops,” about the show’s alleged display of “excessive force as good policing” and reinforcement of “racial stereotypes about criminality.”