L.A. Times v. L.A. Teachers: America Writ Small

by Clay Burell · 2009-05-23 07:04:00 UTC
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Fred and Mike Klonsky ask why edblogs have remained silent on the L.A. teachers' and students' walkout last week in protest of education budget cuts and the issuing of thousands of teacher pink-slips.

In "R.I.P. 'Mainstream' Media," Mike points out the role of the L.A. Times in the debacle:

The L.A. Times ran a piece a week before the arrests, quoting schools chief Cortines accusing teachers of "milking the system" and then one on Friday, just before the arrests, claiming that teachers were going to "storm district headquarters" and "jump on some desks." Then they trailed way behind the blogs and Twitter in covering the protest and the arrests. I found this story about the student protests, on Saturday but nothing else. I looked again on Sunday. Nothing. I looked again this morning. Nothing. I combed the national press again today. Nothing.

Actually more people in China know about the L.A. struggle, than do folks here in the U.S.A. I found this story about teachers in Queensland (that's in Australia) going on strike, but nary a word about L.A. Thank goodness for the blogs and Twitter. RIP L.A. Times and the Tribune Company.

Kevin Martinez offers a good analysis of the insidious effects of the L.A. Times' recent education coverage here:

Under the cover of a “special investigation” into incompetence and wrongdoing in the classroom, the Los Angeles Times has launched a vicious attack on schoolteachers in the Los Angeles public education system.

[...] Teachers in Los Angeles, and throughout California, are confronting a brutal assault on their jobs, living standards and working conditions as the result of multibillion-dollar budget cuts pushed through by Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Democratic Party-controlled state legislature.

The decision of the LA Times to publish the series in this context reveals that the newspaper is making a concerted effort to turn public opinion against teachers, to pit newly hired educators against classroom veterans, and to divert blame for the crisis in the public education system away from the political establishment. Read more...

"To divert blame for the crisis in the public education system away from the political establishment": that analysis isn't limited to L.A. I'd say it applies to the entire country.

Clay Burell
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