Cover kids, not schools

The trade publication approach focuses too much attention on educators and school systems — not in a good way.

By Alexander Russo

Each week, trade publications like Education Week churn out stories about the K-12 education system.

To non-educators, these publications — aimed squarely at informing an audience of educators and administrators — are nearly invisible.

To educators, insiders, advocates, school system heads, and mainstream journalists looking for a quick way to get up to speed, they are required reading.

However, it’s increasingly clear to me that education trade publications focused on K-12 education news play a hidden but toxic role in the education journalism ecosystem.

They’re too chummy with the sector they cover. They put educators and school systems at the center of their coverage.

And — most important —they set a bad example for the rest of the education beat.

To improve education coverage, we need to find an alternative to the trade publication focus on schools and educators.

To improve education coverage, we need to find an alternative to the trade publication focus on schools and educators.

Before, during, and since the pandemic, education trade coverage has frequently failed to expose systemic issues and challenge their readership’s core beliefs.

And, like their commercial and nonprofit counterparts, they engaged in a fair amount of sensationalism.

Most of all, trade outlets too often produce coverage that’s focused on educators and school systems — not on kids, caregivers, and communities.

The trades give a detailed but fundamentally misguided impression of how schools are doing and what education is all about.

It’s supposed to be the education beat — not the educator beat.

But you wouldn’t know that reading trade coverage.

It’s supposed to be the education beat — not the educator beat.

For years now, I’ve lamented the state of education news.

For most of that time, I thought the main source of the problem was the big-name publications like the New York Times and the Washington Post.

Conventional wisdom is that tabloids, social media, and right-wing news outlets are the most corrosive players.

Education trade outlets are generally thought to be the good guys.

They know and care about the topic; they cover it every day.

However, it’s become increasingly clear to me that trade coverage might have been playing an unfortunate role.

If you think about it for a minute, you can see that it’s an impossible situation trade publications are in.

A dominant role for educators and school systems is baked into trade coverage from the start.

Educators and education organizations are trade outlets’ core readers, main sources of information, and occasional funders.

It’s awkward!

Educators and education organizations are trade outlets’ core readers, main sources of information — and occasional funders. It’s awkward!

To be sure, there’s lots to like about education trade publications. They service a massive, incredibly important industry. They produce an enormous amount of coverage that would otherwise not exist. They feature some of the best journalists in the business.

And you could argue that trade publications are not really meant for the general public and shouldn’t be pressed to broaden their mission. They do a great job doing what they do. School systems and educators deserve a dedicated stream of news coverage.

But teachers need to hear certain things, too. So do administrators, researchers, and advocates. And mainstream journalists need to be aware that they’re not getting a fulsome picture from the trades.

Imagine a world in which all the money and talent currently occupied in trade publications was repurposed in support of local, regional, or even national education news coverage that’s part of a larger newsroom dedicated to informing the larger community.

Or, more realistically, imagine a world in which education trades saw it as their core mission to serve a broader audience that includes students, parents, and communities, that was more independent and skeptical and gave educators and school systems new and challenging perspectives.

I don’t know if anything like that will ever happen, but if it did I think it could improve education coverage writ large.

Previously from The Grade

5 bad habits education journalists need to break
Putting parents front and center
Parent-focused education journalism in Memphis
An open letter to the education writers