MEDIA TIDBITS
📰 SCHOOL SHOOTING REMINDERS: How are you reporting on school shootings? Are you using Everytown’s flawed numbers, which counts all gun-related incidents that take place at schools, or are you going with something more accurate? Be sure not to exaggerate the numbers, and explain what your numbers mean, as The Trace has done. And think about why you’re showing — or hiding — graphic images that are being shared on social media.
📰 DANGEROUS STUDENTS FALLING THROUGH THE CRACKS: The latest news about the Parkland killer have re-ignited the question of whether his treatment was a single-instance lapse, a flaw in the school’s discipline system, or a byproduct of the 2014 Obama guidance on school discipline. My own view is that the school’s lapses in addressing the situation and protecting students deserves more media attention, with or without any broader narrative. We need to know what happened at the school so that educators and policymakers in other places can react accordingly.
📰 WHITE MALE OVERKILL: USC education policy wonk Kate Kennedy took to Twitter to note the gender imbalance in the education policy world. I barged in about journalists using too many white male quotes in their stories. Kennedy responded, “Quotes also matter—I’ve seen prominent wonks tout their media mentions as currency. I’d sure love a call that wasn’t a robo.”
📰 EDBUILD EVERYWHERE: This NPR story about teacher salaries based in part on research provided by EdBuild prompted me to quip that the nonprofit was shaping up as the EdTrust of the 2010s. During the 1990s and 2000s, EdTrust was renowned for its ability to place stories and quotes. EdBuild has been racking up a similar slew of media mentions.
📰 CHANGING STORIES WITHOUT TELLING READERS: The NYT “routinely changes news stories—in some cases significantly—and then never discloses or explains the change,” writes Matthew Ingram in a new CJR article. More from 2016 on the Times’ problematic habit of post-publication editing of stories can be found here.
📰 J-SCHOOL INTERSECTIONALITY: The debate about the worthiness of J-school has returned to the headlines. In Splinter, Hamilton Nolan writes “J-School Is a SCAM.” In response, Slate’s Rachelle Hampton claims that J-school is a necessary evil for many minorities. “Breaking into these elite spaces is a necessity, and journalism school not only gives you access to professors with connections but also the future journalists who could put you in contact with your next hiring manager,” Hampton writes.
📰 REPORTING WHILE WHITE (& WELL OFF): While we’re on the topic of race and privilege, Katherine Boo shared some ideas last summer about how to write about people in poverty without being an oblivious jerk. Among the 15 (paraphrased) tips are “Memory sucks” and “To calibrate my compass as a writer, I share my work widely and not only with journalists.” Calling Jay Mathews! |