We've been listening to documentary producers and reporters here at the Amplify School Choice conference in Denver sponsored by the Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity.
What we're hearing again and again is how difficult it is to cover school choice fairly -- how the deck is often stacked against charter schools and other common-sense alternatives to the crisis in public education.
Teachers unions, school administrators, bureaucrats and a host of vested interests block those who want to bring the real facts to the fore. Journalists (citizen journalists included) must be persistent in their search for and demands for the information they need to highlight the facts about school performance, teacher quality, teacher accountability, school budgets, education policy, regulations, etc. Many obstacles are placed in their path and they have to dig and dig and dig and these obstructions are bad news for parents and students.
What's more (and this is equally bad or worse) editors sometimes allegedly stymie enterprising reporters who want to tell the school choice story and much of the media cognoscenti are notoriously liberal -- they favor the unions and the status quo and, incredibly, they don't seem to want to rock the boat, even a little bit. And, in some cases, media chieftains simply do not have the guts to go down this road.
It's a sad scenario, folks.
Fortunately, though, lots of people are now working overtime to get the facts out about our public schools and tell the success story called school choice. Yes, #amplifyschoolchoice is one way we're doing this.
And we're joined by many, many others.
Stay with us!
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