Before 2020, #Defund Was in the Streets: Unpacking Television News Networks’ Representation of #DefundThePolice, 2011-2019

• In Event: Media, Public Attitudes, and Police Legitimacy

Abstract

Without question, the movement to “defund the police” gained the unprecedented attention of international audiences in 2020. Although this topic has been featured prominently on television news networks in recent years, one might ask: did the mandate to “defund the police” or “defund policing” appear on television before 2020? If so, was coverage of these mandates in response to excessive use of police force, fatal police violence, or other citizen-initiated demands? This paper addresses these questions leveraging transcripts from individual news segments accessed through the publicly-available Stanford Cable TV News Analyzer dataset. Preliminary findings suggest that mentions of “defund the police” surface beginning in 2011 in response to circumstances that mirror those of 2020, which include–but are not limited to–community-driven demands for municipal accountability in the aftermath of police misconduct. Moreover, this analysis grapples with the significance of historical calls to defund policing from 2011-2019 in light of ongoing efforts to hold municipal leaders across the U.S. accountable for addressing unmet needs that fall outside of the core responsibilities of police departments.

Author

• Demar F. Lewis IV, University of Maryland