Last week I was on Chris Stewart’s “Rock The Schools” podcast talking about the current state of education journalism. Click the link here if the audio doesn’t play above.
What prompted the conversation was the coverage (or lack thereof) of the Teach For America 25th anniversary event, which I wrote about and Stewart attended. (I’ve got a followup piece about TFA’s evolution coming out in the not too distant future.)
Stewart, who tweets as @citizenstewart, has his own views and frustrations about how schools are covered by the mainstream media. We share some funders, but we have differed at various times in the past and as you’ll see our views are different.
For me, two of the most interesting aspects of the conversation were (a) looking at long-term trends in education coverage (from a tendency towards hype in the mid-2000’s to what someone called a “fascination with failure” since about 2010), and (b) the issue of education journalists, race, and privilege. This latter issue is all the more relevant since the Oscars are coming up. Is it time for #edjournalismsowhite?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Alexander Russo
Alexander Russo is founder and editor of The Grade, an award-winning effort to help improve media coverage of education issues. He’s also a Spencer Education Journalism Fellowship winner and a book author. You can reach him at @alexanderrusso.
Visit their website at: https://the-grade.org/
