See Through Copaganda: Alec Karakatsanis

In this powerful episode of Future Hindsight, host Mila Atmos revisits a conversation with Alec Karakatsanis, founder of Civil Rights Corps and author of *Copaganda: How Police and the Media Manipulate Our News*. Karakatsanis dismantles the myth of a rising crime wave, exposing how media narratives—what he calls 'copaganda'—systematically narrow our understanding of safety by amplifying fears around petty theft and violence by marginalized groups while ignoring far more consequential harms like environmental pollution, wage theft, and tax evasion. He reveals how this propaganda ecosystem manufactures consent for the expansion of the punishment bureaucracy—a vast, multi-billion-dollar network of police, prisons, surveillance tech, and private industries—by distorting data, omitting context, and framing punitive policies as solutions to safety. Drawing on years of research, interviews, and case studies, Karakatsanis argues that the real drivers of violence are inequality, poverty, lack of healthcare, and social isolation—issues the media never addresses. He also exposes how so-called 'reforms' like body cameras are not about accountability but serve as tools of surveillance and profit for corporations like Axon, while enabling the very system they claim to reform. Despite the bleak picture, Karakatsanis ends with hope: collective action, community organizing, and education—especially in groups—are the antidotes to propaganda and the path to a more just, democratic society.