From a prizewinning civil rights lawyer comes a powerful warning about how the media manipulates public perception, fueling fear and inequality, while distracting us from what truly matters

"Alec Karakatsanis exposes our criminal injustice system for what it is: a bureaucracy of punishment, propped up by a biased media machine that feeds mass incarceration.AfterCopaganda, you'll never read the news the same way again." -Michelle Alexander, author ofThe New Jim Crow

In this groundbreaking expose,essential for understanding the rising authoritarian mindset,award-winning civil rights lawyerAlecKarakatsanis introduces the concept of "Copaganda."He definesCopagandaas a special kind of propaganda employed by police, prosecutors, and news media that stokes fear of police-recorded crime and distorts society's responses to it. Every day, mass mediamanipulatesour perception of what keeps us safeand contributesto a culturefearfulofpoor people, strangers,immigrants, unhoused people, and people of color.The result is more and more authoritarian state repression, more inequality, and huge profits for the massive public and private punishment bureaucracy.

For readers of Naomi Klein and Noam Chomsky, Copagandadocuments how modern news coverage fuels insecurity against these groups and shifts our focus away from the policies that would help usimprove people's lives-things like affordable housing, adequate healthcare,early childhood education,and climate-friendly city planning.

These false narratives in turn fuelsurveillance, punishment,inequality, injustice,and mass incarceration. Copaganda is often hidden in plain sight, such as:

• When your local TV station obsessivelyfocuses on shoplifting by poor people while ignoring crimes of wage theft, tax evasion, and environmental pollution
• When you hear on your daily podcast that there is a "shortage" of prison guards rather than too many people in prison
• When your newspaper quotes an "expert" saying that more money for police and prisons is the answerto violence despite scientific evidence to the contrary

Recognized byTeen Vogueas "one of the most prominent voices" on the criminal legal system, Karakatsanis brings his sharp legal expertise, trenchant political analysis, and humorous storytelling to drastically alter the way we consume information, while offering a hopeful path forward. One towards a healed humanity-and media system-with a vested interest in public safety and equality.