NBC News Wants to be the Education Network the Way George W. Bush Wanted to be the Education President
Jeb Bush (Photo credit: Wikipedia)Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush was one of NBC's "Education Nation" experts.
The NBC News series “Education Nation” sold itself as a a serious national dialog on the state of education in America that would include grass roots voices as well as those making and implementing policy. In reality, “Education Nation” which just wrapped up its fourth annual edition, may be more marketing ploy than a true forum for reform.
Marquee “experts” read like a “Who’s Who” of politicians, policy makers and establishment educators, ranging from U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan to former Florida governor Jeb Bush to New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Yes, American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten was among the headliners, but besides the union chief, there were few of the many prominent voices critical of the privatization of education.
Tyndall observes that’s it’s little surprise that the University of Phoenix is an “Education Nation” sponsor — the for-profit, open admissions institution has come under fire for tuition rates that are 200-300 percent more than community colleges and its extremely high attrition rates.
Other “Education Nation” sponsors include Pearson PSO -0.63%, the Bill &Melinda Gates Foundation, the W.K Kellogg K +0.16% Foundation and ExxonMobil.
With “Education Nation” NBC News wants to be the education network the way George W. Bush wanted to be the education president. It’s a crowd pleasing palliative to the audience and advertisers, but the result is as much window-dressing as anything. It’s true that NBC News gives more time to education than its competition at the broadcast and cable news networks. Still it’s a crucial area that gets scant coverage. Last year, “ABC World News,” “CBS Evening News” and “NBC Nightly News” combined, spent barely 2 percent of
Other “Education Nation” sponsors include Pearson PSO -0.63%, the Bill &Melinda Gates Foundation, the W.K Kellogg K +0.16% Foundation and ExxonMobil.
With “Education Nation” NBC News wants to be the education network the way George W. Bush wanted to be the education president. It’s a crowd pleasing palliative to the audience and advertisers, but the result is as much window-dressing as anything. It’s true that NBC News gives more time to education than its competition at the broadcast and cable news networks. Still it’s a crucial area that gets scant coverage. Last year, “ABC World News,” “CBS Evening News” and “NBC Nightly News” combined, spent barely 2 percent of