Traditional journalism has been knocked off its pedestal. Alternative sources, approaches, and platforms are proliferating. What happens next?
By Alexander Russo
A few months ago, I asked a parent for the names of education journalists whose work she admired, and she told me a bunch of names of people who aren’t journalists.
They’re knowledgeable educators, parents, and researchers who share useful information and insightful analysis about schools. But they don’t work or write for traditional news outlets or identify as journalists. And they generally don’t hide their views.
When I pointed this out, this parent’s frustration was clear.
“I mean, isn’t everyone a journalist now?” she said.
I winced a bit, but she wasn’t entirely wrong. Traditional journalism is going through an awkward molting process. Trust is low. Any determined individual with a social media account or a Subtack newsletter can reach thousands of interested readers directly. Nontraditional voices and platforms – many of them “heterodox” or right-coded — are increasingly present, filling in a void. Audiences seem to be looking for candor and authenticity along with reliable information.
In this new era, traditional newsroom-based journalism increasingly seems like an old-timey ivory tower. We read it because we’ve always read it. We appreciate the steady stream of information. But we know that most regular people don’t read the news that way anymore, if they ever did. And we’re probably supplementing traditional education news with new, alternative sources of information.
“I mean, isn’t everyone a journalist now?”
Previously from The Grade: Thankful for education journalism — traditional and otherwise.
What does this new ecosystem look like — and how does it operate? We’ve written about nontraditional models and innovations several times in the past, but there’s lots more going on.
ALTERNATIVE OUTLETS
There are a few relatively new outlets trying new things – including the so-called heterodoxy of The Free Press, which has featured topics and journalists other outlets shy away from, republished pieces by mainstream education thinkers like Tim Daly —and now even has its own semi-dedicated education reporter, Frannie Block.
Tablet and Compact magazines are two other efforts that have published useful and interesting work on education, though How the Teachers Union Broke Public Education is more of an opinion piece than anything else.
Other new and rebooted outlets with a commitment to covering education like the Kansas City Defender and The Emancipator could be seen as efforts to revamp the information ecosystem from the left. As Nieman’s Laura Hazard Owens noted not too long ago, traditional education journalism and established information channels tend to serve more affluent parents better than others.
ALTERNATIVE PLATFORMS
The Boston Globe’s Mandy McLaren is the education beat’s TikTok star, and there may be other education journalists and nontraditional types out there, sharing school-related information.
New channels and new approaches deserve curiosity and respect rather than scorn from the media establishment, notes ProPublica alum Dick Tofel.
One example Tofel cites is TikTok’s Under The Desk News, which I’d never heard of but in March produced Dept of Ed Plans to Fire 50% Staff segment that generated 207,000 likes, 5,353 comments, and over 30,000 shares.
Not bad for a day’s work.
ALTERNATIVE SOURCES
Chicago’s Austin Berg covers mayor Brandon Johnson’s every move, usually with accompanying video.
“Our reporting exists because people inside the education system — from parents to rank-and-file teachers — are looking for a champion that won’t bend to political pressure from CTU leadership,” says Berg, who heads the Chicago Policy Center of the Illinois Policy Institute. “Unlike traditional outlets, we don’t just uncover problems, we actively pursue legal and policy solutions that rebalance power between the union, lawmakers, parents, and students.”
Quinton Klabon tweets under the moniker GhaleonQ and shares useful information about Milwaukee schools.
“I have immense respect for traditional journalists,” says the Institute for Reforming Government’s Klabon. “I love doing accessible education analysis for everyday people, whether that is breaking down a curriculum’s weaknesses, putting performance data in context, or pulling spending highlights from opaque board documents.”
What distinguishes these folks from any number of other well-known names who write about education? For me it boils down to digging up and sharing information. They’re not primarily or exclusively commentators. What they’re doing is more than aggregation or commentary. Their main value comes from showing us things we haven’t seen, rather than telling us things we may not have thought of.
I mean, 50CAN’s Marc Porter Magee shares charts and statistics all day, every day. In another life, he might have been a great education reporter.
In another life, Porter Magee might have been a great education reporter.
GOOD OLD FACEBOOK
In Houston, there’s a giant Facebook group that parents and reporters rely on.
Called Supporters of HISD Magnets and Budget Accountability, it started in 2018 and has grown to nearly 9,000 members.
“We use data, often from either publicly available information reported to the school board or from public information requests, to understand and explain what is going on in HISD and how proposed changes will affect Houston’s students,” says one of the page’s administrators. “We also receive a large amount of insider information/tips, thanks to the trust we have built with stakeholders across the district. Our group also serves as a place for people to shed light on issues they see on their campuses.
The page recently helped defeat a $4.4 B bond package and has spawned tons of smaller text groups on WhatsApp, Messenger, and regular old text. I’m sure Houston isn’t the only place with this kind of group.
INNOVATIONS & EXPERIMENTS
There are also traditional journalists and newsrooms trying new things.
A handful of news outlets including the Nebraska Journalism Trust are experimenting with citizen-based journalism through the Documenters model, in which trained citizens cover school board meetings that journalists use to produce news stories.
Chalkbeat is among a handful of outlets using AI to track school board meetings and suggest story ideas. After initially trying to build their own model, they’re now using something called Local Lens.
SUBSTACK AND YOUTUBE
It’s worth noting that, so far as I can tell, Substack and YouTube haven’t yet emerged as hot places for education news.
There are lots of folks writing about education on Substack, including some of my favorite education writers. But most of them are doing commentary, analysis, or longform essay-writing. There’s nobody covering schools like former ed reporter Olivia Krauth covers Kentucky politics (though Krauth touches on schools now and then).
It doesn’t help that Substack’s “news” and “education” leaderboard lists are a hot mess.
A quick look around YouTube finds a few ed teams and outlets like The 74, Education Week, and Chalkbeat with channels, but nobody seems to be going all in. You can find an interview with the Wall Street Journal’s Doug Belkin here and a short from the New York Times’ Dana Goldstein there. But not much more.
That could change soon. Video is all the rage, now including podcasts. A handful of established journalists from other beats have migrated to the YouTube. Clip-based accounts like Acyn are extremely popular, and an education-based clip service would likely be a big hit.
THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM
How to categorize conservative evangelical Corey DeAngelis in this new world? It seems strange to mention him here but equally wrong to leave him out.
A prolific sharer of videos and news stories that fit his themes, DeAngelis first came to my attention demanding (and sometimes getting) corrections from big-name newsrooms like the Washington Post. Lately, he’s cheered on the dismissal of school predators and pro-DEI school officials, railed against wokeness at the recent EWA education conference, and celebrated the spread of private school choice.
You may hate his views and approach. But people seem to love it. At the latest count, he has 209,000 followers on X, far more than anyone in education that else I can think of.
“What’s Telemundo reporting? Univision? Communities on Tiktok and WhatsApp? That’s where these parents are getting their information.”
A few months ago, a reporter responding to a piece I’d written about ICE raids and schools put me and traditional journalism in our places.
“I doubt any of the reporting you analyzed is affecting immigrant parents’ behavior,” she wrote. “What’s Telemundo reporting? Univision? Communities on Tiktok and WhatsApp? That’s where these parents are getting their information. Not from AP, NYT or the Chicago Tribune.”
In the world in which we exist, more and more people don’t trust or rely on traditional news outlets.
Let’s get to know more about the innovation and nontraditional information sources out there. Let’s make use of them in the short term and adopt some of their better people and ideas in the long term. Let’s make education the most interesting, experimental beat there is.
Previously on this topic
Why does everyone downplay classroom chaos?
How the pandemic response destroyed the learning culture in one Baltimore high school
Thankful for education journalism — traditional and otherwise
What happens when a non-traditional podcast fills in to cover school board meetings?
How I unintentionally became an education reporter (Minneapolis)
In Cleveland, community efforts fill in for school coverage
Finding real parents — on deadline
Does education journalism need a ‘new’ Chalkbeat?
Schools coverage should serve parents’ needs, says journalism researcher
