#3473. More than a trivial pursuit: Public order policing narratives and the ‘social media test’

October 2026publication date
Proposal available till 25-05-2025
4 total number of authors per manuscript0 $

The title of the journal is available only for the authors who have already paid for
Journal’s subject area:
Cultural Studies;
Law;
Communication;
Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous);
Places in the authors’ list:
place 1place 2place 3place 4
FreeFreeFreeFree
2350 $1200 $1050 $900 $
Contract №3473.1 Contract №3473.2 Contract №3473.3 Contract №3473.4
1 place - free (for sale)
2 place - free (for sale)
3 place - free (for sale)
4 place - free (for sale)

Abstract:
Social media has transformed public discourse on policing and the contest of control over the police image. Through in-depth interviews with police and non-police respondents the article maps the genealogy of, and provides perspective on, one of the first viral cases of bystander video of police excessive force filmed and uploaded to YouTube. The study shows the video’s impact on hegemonic mainstream and police news media narratives, processes of criminalisation and police accountability and the merit of narrative criminology in unpacking these phenomena. Police alluding to the ‘social media test’ in in-depth interviews shows that digital media in general and social media in particular can no longer be dismissed as peripheral or subsidiary to public discourse on policing in a digital society.
Keywords:
Accountability; bystander video; latent sousveillance; narrative criminology; police excessive force; social media

Contacts :
0