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MEDIA WATCH: First, hang out at District299.com (one back scratches the other)... Second, for a good laugh, readers should check out how The New York Times spins its Chicago 'turnaround' coverage to ignore thousands of angry black people denouncing 'turnaround'

George N. Schmidt - March 01, 2010

We'll have a bit more to say about the puerile reporting by the Chicago News Cooperative in the February 28, 2010 New York Times (e.g., they didn't attend any of the closing hearings; didn't quote any union leaders in their "turnaround" propaganda piece; didn't even note the massive segregation of the schools on the Hit List...), but...

...that's for another time...

At least the Chicago News Cooperative mentioned that one of the sugar daddies of the Chicago News Cooperative is Martin ("Mike") Koldyke, who is also the founder of AUSL (that's the white group of reformers that fires black teachers at schools targeted for "turnaround", as readers of Substance know). Let's assume that when more than 3,000 black people protest the five "turnaround" schools and a half dozen black Chicago aldermen speak out (some in ringing terms) against "turnaround" even The New York Times would find it hard to miss a story, but "All The News That's Fit To Print..." managed to make the racist reality of "turnaround" non news on February 28.

At least District 299 has been tracking this story, so when they wrote

"Just a week and change ago, Substance raised the issue of whether the Chicago News Cooperative should disclose its relationship to Martin Koldyke in its coverage of turnarounds and AUSL. Well, this latest article does just that... Of course, I don't know exactly what happened or if there's a direct causal relationship. But it was a good call from Substance and a good move on the CNC's part to err on the side of transparency..."

Chicago Venture Capitalist Martin ("Mike") Koldyke (above left) helped launch "turnaround" at Sherman school in Chicago and has now purchased a piece of the so-called "Chicago News Cooperative" to ensure that The New York Times will cover the "news" of "turnaround" success without a critical eye. During the years prior to his ventures directly into education, Koldyke was head of the Chicago School Finance Authority, then head of the "Chicago School Reform Authority". One of the experts on corporate "school reform" hired by Koldyke was right wing zealot Checker Finn of the Thomas Fordham Foundation, who was the consultant on how to do school reform for Koldyke in the early and mid-1990s. The photo above, taken at Chicago's "Sherman School of Excellence" in january 2008, includes Chicago Alderman Joann Thompson and Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley in the background. Substance photo by George N. Schmidt. We noticed.

Readers should stop by www.district299.com every day.

It's worth the trip.

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