How Often Are Police Seen On Television News?

How much airtime is devoted to depictions of police on television news? The timeline below uses AI to count the total seconds of daily airtime since the start of last year across CNN, MSNBC and Fox News in which a police officer was visible. From January to May 2020, police were depicted on average a few minutes per day, with a surge around the George Floyd protests. Yet after the protests, police were shown on television news at twice the rate as before the protests. The events of January 6, 2021 yield another small surge, while the Derick Chauvin trial yielded a large increase and in the months since, police have continued to be seen on television news at at least twice the rate they were prior to the George Floyd protests.

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