A Challenge for Campbell Brown’s 74: Investigate This Fresh, NOLA Charter School Fraud
Privileged Louisiana native and notably-telegenic former CNN anchor Campbell Brown has started a new venture, which she calls The Seventy Four (for the 74 million children in the US under 18 years old). She has decided that she will produce news stories in order to advocate for these 74 million children.
Campbell BrownBefore Brown started this 74 venture, she was already “advocating,” but she already had some obvious holes in her indignation: She ignores scandals staring her in the face and which involve her politically-connected compadres. For example, Brown is a close associate of Michelle Rhee, who has yet to be fully investigated for the DC cheating scandal that occurred on her watch as DC chancellor, and Rhee’s husband, Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, has sexual and financial scandals of his own associated with his own charter school.
I wrote about Brown’s selective indignation in this January 2015 blog post and also in another January 2015 post.
So, it seems that Brown needs to shave thousands of kids off of that 74 number before her so-called advocacy project is out of the gate. Brown will not be advocating for children affected by the shady dealings of her amply-moneyed-and-politically-connected pals.
Still, there is hope for Brown. After all, following numerous exchanges with education blogger Jennifer Berkshire on the issue of Brown’s not reporting on charter school scandals, Brown’s 74 PR firm rep, Stefan Friedman of Mercury. (the extra period is intentional) insisted that 74 will Follow All Leads:
As is crystal clear from the varied content that went live today, the reporters and editors at The Seventy Four will follow every story wherever it takes them – whether that be as part of a breaking news story or a long-form investigative piece. Any suggestion to the contrary is patently incorrect. Luckily for readers, now that we’re live, anybody interested in education no longer has to depend on unnamed sources to tell them what our site is and isn’t – they can come and see for themselves.
That sounds great, but it did take Berkshire, who was operating on a tip by an anonymous source who stated that the 74 did not plan to report in detail on charter school scandals, “three weeks, 15 emails and one off-the-record conversation” to get that dribble of indignant info out of Friedman. Plus, as noted in my own posts linked above, there is Brown’s glaring history of hypocritically speaking against shady dealings in education even as she publicly (and fiscally) associates with those who engage in shady dealings, including charter school scandals.
So, given such assurance from Mercury. (poisonous to breathe in, mind you) rep A Challenge for Campbell Brown’s 74: Investigate This Fresh, NOLA Charter School Fraud | deutsch29:
