FAIR's 'Miseducation Nation' takes on hypocrisy and lies of NBCs 'Education Nation'
[Editor's Note: On October 5, 2011, FAIR circulated a link to an important video along with the following press statement for distribution. Substance readers should view the video, which is a very good response to "Education Nation," even though FAIR snubs Substance while plugging Rethinking Schools. We're working on changing that.]
MisEducation Nation: Corporate Media and Corporate Education Reform
During the last week of September, NBC was staging its second annual "Education Nation" summit — a series of events and broadcasts bankrolled by the corporate interests and foundations aligned with the so-called "education reform" movement.
Corporate media coverage of education policy tends to hew closely to the "reform" agenda: promoting charter schools and vouchers, embracing relentless testing and other "accountability" measures, and attacking teachers' unions for standing in the way of progress.
On September 27, FAIR brought together four of the most dynamic and thoughtful education experts and activists in the country for a discussion about how the media mangle the debate over public schools.
The lively and thought-provoking discussion, led by journalist Laura Flanders, featured education historian Diane Ravitch, NYU professor Pedro Noguera, Leonie Haimson of Class Size Matters and teacher-activist Brian Jones.
Was NBC's approach more inclusive than last year's presentation? Are issues like poverty even on the table? And how is is that Wall Street investors and billionaires have become media experts on schools?
Watch the video:
