Paul Farhi, a veteran reporter at the Washington Post, wrote an article recently about Campbell Brown’s new “news site” called “The 74,” which is a vehicle for her ongoing campaign against teachers’ unions and tenure and for charters and vouchers. Brown, who has no experience as a teacher, scholar, or researcher, who attended a private high school (her own children attend a private religious school), has become the new face of the corporate reform movement since Michelle Rhee stepped out of the limelight. Last year, Farhi wrote about Brown’s transition from TV talking head to advocate for vouchers, charters, and the elimination of teacher tenure. (You will notice in the earlier article that Brown takes great umbrage to my having described her as telegenic and pretty; well, she IS telegenic and pretty, and I would be happy if anyone said that about me! I consider it a compliment.)
Farhi reports the funding behind “The 74”:
As it happens, Brown raised the funds for the Seventy Four from some of the biggest and wealthiest advocates of the restructuring that the Seventy Four appears to be espousing. The funders include the Dick and Betsy DeVos Family Foundation, the Walton Family Foundation and Bloomberg Philanthropies, all of which have opposed teachers unions and supported various school-privatization initiatives. (Her co-founder, Romy Drucker, was an education adviser to billionaire and former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg.)
This would be just another garden-variety profile of a controversial figure, but blogger Alexander Russo blasted Farhi as biased against Brown. Although Farhi does not quote another corporate reformer, he quotes Brown herself extensively. Russo questioned Farhi’s objectivity as a journalist. He complained that there was no outside voice supporting Brown, and that Farhi ended the article with skeptical quotes from Washington insider Jack Jennings and AFT President Randi Weingarten. Russo says that Farhi should have allowed Brown to respond to the critics, and he should have found “another outside voice — a journalist, academic, or education leader of some kind — to express support” for Brown. He also wrote that “the overview was inaccurate or misleading” by stating that Brown’s views are supported by conservative politicians and business interests.
In an earlier post, Russo candidly disclosed that he had hoped to join Campbell Brown’s “team,” but didn’t make the cut:
Disclosures: This blog is funded in part by Education Post, which shares several funders with The Seventy-Four. Last summer and Fall, I spoke with Brown and others on the team about partnering with them but nothing came of it.
The curious aspect of this particular flap is that Russo’s blog is jointly funded by the American Federation of Teachers and Education Post (which is funded by the Broad Foundation, the Bloomberg Foundation, and the Walton Family Foundation).
Randi Weingarten tweeted:
Randi Weingarten (@rweingarten)
7/26/15, 1:14 PM
Russo’s criticism of Farhi is off base. Farhi’s piece is smart, effective journalism: washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/styl…
Also:
Randi Weingarten (@rweingarten)
7/26/15, 3:27 PM
@alexanderrusso do u really believe Campbell Brown is no longer ideological or are u acting this way b/c of funding washingtonmonthly.com/the-grade/2015…
Diane Ravitch's blog 
So, is the AFT going tow withdraw financial support from Russo’s blog” Why is the AFT providing financial support in the first place?
So we can have a “seat at the table” while we are simultaneously being served.
We get a seat at the table while we are being cannibalized.
Yes, cannibalized is the spot-on descriptor. Randi W seems to continually secure a ‘free pass , despite her long term self serving behaviors and conflicting oyalties.
Lighten up, ladies and gentlemen.
WHAT’s the big deal?
Weingarten funding an anti-teacher, anti-union individual or organization? Weingarten partnering with such people?
Then Weingarten turning around and declaring Russo’s comments to be off base, and then she praises Farhi as smart and effective?
Randi wil never learn.
She is morally learning disabled and all the therapy in the world will never change her inner core, which at this point, she clings to desperately.
It comes as NO surprise that she does not support Sanders.
It’s AFT politics as usual, but I am actually glad Randi has remained true to her bloated narcissistic self. The more she marches to the tune of her broken violin, the more she will incite change from within the union.
Randi Weingarten, in one sense, is more egregious than Eli Broad, Bloomberg, Gates, and the Waltons any time of day because they are against us, and she is supposed (I pause at the word “supposed”, as I need to clear my throat from all the vomit in it at this given moment) to represent teachers and families.
It remains difficult and arduous. It will always take a lot of heavy lifting, but one day, we will finish the reinvention of our unions and make them into what they should be instead of one persons’s vainglorious, megalomaniacal retention of self-serving power.
Vote for Sanders, even with all his flaws. He is the real thing!
Well written, Robert! You “box the compass”.
BTW, as a side note:
If anyone is in the northwest corner of Massachusetts, especially in proximity to Berkshire County, I am hosting a support event (it is not a fundraiser) for Bernie Sanders, and you are welcome to show up.
I will be broadcasting a speech from Senator Sanders and protesting it via internet onto a large white wall for all to view. Refreshments will be served.
Even if you are not from this area and wish to attend, you are welcome to, but if you are making a long trip, you will have to secure lodging.
The event starts sharply at 7PM, and you MUST RSVP no later than 12 midnight on July 28th, EST in order for me to get a head count.
For further details, please write to rcbluemoon@aol.com.
Please indicate your first and last name when you write, and I will return a response with more details of the event.
Best regards,
Robert Rendo
Nationally Board Certified Teacher / Administrative Intern
Yep!! The big story hidden here is how Randi supports Deformers.
AFT has also generously donated campaign contributions to some of the most ardent critics of public schools and unions–both Democrats and Republicans.
Honestly, we do a disservice to cannibals because we know what to expect. Randi is more like the witch who entices you with her cookies and candies, shoves you into the oven, then invites all her Broadie friends to dinner. By the way, we, the AFT rank and file, are paying for all this with our dues.
A better comparison of her would be to Bernie Madoff since we are the ones getting swindled!!
“We get a seat at the table while we are being cannibalized.”
Or in this case “Campbellized”
Thank you, johna.
Excellent question: While we’re at it I’d also like to ask some others:
– Why is the AFT such a strong and prominent proselytizer on behalf of the odious common core?
– Why has the AFT been such an enthusiastic backer of No Child Left Behind and Race To The Top and all of the destructive components of each?
– Why has the AFT done so little to stop charters and vouchers and short-term TFA types over these past few years? And why have they stood silently on the sidelines, allowing privatizers to continue with a relentless propaganda campaign against our schools when educating the public about these issues has been so very crucial?
And that’s just for starters…
Anyone in the AFT leadership have an answer? Anyone? Ms. Weingarten? Anyone?
How about in the rank and file? Anyone?
Short answer: A majority of pro-Randi delegates are handpicked to vote at the Convention.
The article below is not about a vote on leadership but it makes it clear how the event is manipulated to produce the desired result.
The excerpts from the article linked below are about how the Chicago Teachers Union and the NYC Teachers Union members who oppose the Common Core were not allowed to speak at the AFT convention. Staffers who support leadership are the only ones given the floor.
“The three New York City union leaders who spoke most forcefully in defense of Common Core both in committee and on the convention floor were Michael Mulgrew, Leroy Barnes, and Leo Casey. All are union staffers.
The CTU had provided the convention with a clean resolution in opposition to the Common Core. The resolution was killed in a committee stacked with delegates from New York whose script was to keep Common Core from ever coming to the convention floor for a full debate. The “Ed Issues” committee which killed the Common Core resolution from Chicago included an unprecedented 800 delegates (committees are generally relatively small), most of whom were handpicked to support the leadership’s positions.” http://www.substancenews.net/articles.php?page=5149
Cut the crap Randi. Russo is a long-time dishonest ed deformer trying to disguise himself as a journalist and you help him spread the word by funding him. Pull the plug NOW. It’s our dues.
I’m not a teacher. Never have been and that’s true for every member of my immediate and extended family.
I am also not a member of a union and neither is any member of my immediate family.
So, I’m genuinely perplexed: Why was Randi Weingarten elected with such an overwhelming vote and why was there little, if any organized opposition?
At least that’s how it looked to this outsider and parent. Anyone?
She gets elected through a process that is anything but democratic. You have to understand the power structure of the UFT and AFT to understand how she has gained power and retained it.
Who died and left Russo boss? Of course a media figure (Brown), with no connection to public schooling, who suddenly becomes an expert is news. Gee, too bad Farhi did not consult Russo before writing his piece.
Maybe Russo will be his next subject, that could be interesting.
Given Randi W’s and the AFt’s ever shifting positions on Common Core and Standardized testing, maybe Randi W and the AFT support of the Russo blog will be the next subject.
Excellent question: While we’re at it I’d also like to ask some others:
– Why is the AFT such a strong and prominent proselytizer on behalf of the odious common core?
– Why has the AFT been such an enthusiastic backer of No Child Left Behind and Race To The Top and all of the destructive components of each?
– Why has the AFT done so little to stop charters and vouchers and short-term TFA types over these past few years? And why have they stood silently on the sidelines, allowing privatizers to continue with a relentless propaganda campaign against our schools when educating the public about these issues has been so very crucial?
And that’s just for starters…
Anyone in the AFT leadership have an answer? Anyone? Ms. Weingarten? Anyone?
How about in the rank and file? Anyone?
Cross posted at OEN (OPED news) with my comment with embedded links.
http://www.opednews.com/Quicklink/Media-Flap-Over-Treatment-in-Best_Web_OpEds-Corporate_Diane-Ravitch_Education_Media-Bias-150727-995.html#comment556486
Shills like Rhee and Brown abound, so if you want the real story about education you must go to either the NPE (Network for Public education) or the Ravitch blog http://dianeravitch.net and discover how fast the institution of public schools are being destroyed, and with it the road to opportunity for the people.
Reblogged this on Crazy Normal – the Classroom Exposé and commented:
A revealing, closer look at how the oligarch’s opaque, for-profit, often fraudulent corporate RheeForm movement works to fool the public to gain support in the destruction of democratic, transparent, non-profit public education.
It is about time the public caught on to the devious methods corporations and billionaires are inserting themselves into local and state decisions to privatize services. What is being sold is several steps down from what we have, and it won’t save money after all the people from the corporations get paid. “Caveat Emptor.,”if we allow ourselves to be led like lambs to the slaughter. All public employees should close ranks and support each other. It may be schools and libraries today, but it may be fire fighters and police tomorrow. The middle class will have no buying power, and the entire economy will suffer. This destruction of the middle class is a short term gain for corporate profit, and it is a ticket to poverty for the middle class.
This seems like an exercise in false equivalency creating. In this variation those with no experience or expertise, motivated by their quest for personal financial gain, are supposed to be allowed an equal voice at the same table with lifelong educators motivated by the ideals of expanding human knowledge and democracy, who actually devote their lives to the praxis (doing) of education.
I believe they follow the long tradition of that Great American hero, the Snake Oil Salesman. I’ve referred to them in the past as “riverboat dandies” of education reform.
http://www.rcfouchaux.ca/blog/2013/11/09/thinking-tanked-the-riverboat-dandies-of-edreform/
I hope you aren’t referring to this “riverboat dandy”:
Perhaps by defending Brown publicly, Russo hopes to have his resume re-read by her.
He might just get that job now.
“… the public education system, in its current form, is broken, and there’s an urgency to fix it.” Campbell Brown
This is and has been the drumbeat of the corporate edu-“reformer”. She is not working alone.
It is also a clear indication that Campbell Brown knows nothing about public schools.
..and “nothing” is the only thing Campbell Brown knows about (schools or anything else)
Campbell Brown’s opinions are fine- everyone has one and she has a bigger forum than most to promote hers.
I think we get into trouble when some opinions are treated as more valid than others based on nothing other than what are relationships- her relationships with funders and other media people. Whether anyone wants to admit it or not, her status almost ensures that will happen. That’s the way that the world goes ’round.
The fact is any old teacher or parent could not secure funding for a platform like Brown has. They don’t have relationships or clout with influential people.
I’m fine with “let’s get Campbell Brown’s opinions on public schools along with these other random members of the public”.
I actually wouldn’t have named the outlet “the 74” to imply this select group of ed reformers speaks for 74 million children. I think that’s wildly arrogant. My son is one of the 74 million. I didn’t elect any of these people to speak for him and I have no earthly idea if they’re acting in his interest. I don’t know them the way they know each other. I do know some of his teachers and our school board members, who are elected and accountable.
I’m not a teacher. Never have been and that’s true for every member of my immediate and extended family.
I am also not a member of a union and neither is any member of my immediate family.
So, I’m genuinely perplexed: Why was Randi Weingarten elected with such an overwhelming vote and why was there little, if any organized opposition?
At least that’s how it looked to this outsider and parent. Anyone?
I was once in a union and my middle son is in a union and I am (generally) pro union.
However. I’m as perplexed as you are regarding Weingarten.
Maybe there’s lots I don’t know about the specifics but just as an observer I don’t think she’s really a stand-out, talented advocate. Maybe she’s better at the bargaining level? I don’t know.
At the same time, I object to how ed reformers have framed this debate. They have set this up so it’s teachers unions versus ed reformers.
I want advocates in government to support public schools. I don’t consider support for public schools to be limited to teachers unions. I reject that. Weingarten should not be the only person presenting the case for why we should support public schools. I object to that.
Sorry, but I don’t agree with your statement that “Campbell Brown’s opinions are fine.”
I think her opinions are mendacious, malicious, manipulative and mean-spirited.
She has every right to state them, however. And all of us hold the right to criticize them.
Right, thanks. That’s what I meant.
As my dad (he’s been dead for 20 years come September) used to say: “Opinions are like noses. Everyone has one, and most of them smell.”
I think this is especially true for Campbell Brown.
I don’t see any harm in admitting what’s obvious, about “access”.
Have you ever been invited to express your opinions on public schools on a cable tv station? No.
But Campbell Brown is invited. Why is that? It isn’t mastery of the subject. It’s clout and relationships. We can discuss without telling fairy tales about how everyone has an “equal” voice. No, they don’t. No point in lying about it.
Your dad’s version is the nice one. The one I know substitutes the anal orifice for the nose.
Chiara, you’ve disabused me of the notion that “The 74” stood for the select but brave plutocrats who are behind this selfless movement. Maybe the name has a double meaning?
It’s the 74 million children. Who were apparently abandoned by their parents, teachers and every other adult on the planet so needed rescuing. From what, I’m not sure. The evil self-interested adults who surround them in their actual families and communities?
It’s bad enough I’m stuck with political appointees running public schools at the federal and state level. I now have a huge group of “thought leaders” running things who have absolutely no connection to anything.
I thought it was a reference to the Edwin Starr song
74, huh yeah
What is it good for?
Absolutely nothing, oh hoh, oh
74 huh yeah
What is it good for?
Absolutely nothing, say it again y’all
74, huh good God
What is it good for?
Absolutely nothing, listen to me
Oh, 74, I despise
‘Cause it means destruction of innocent lives
74 means tears to thousands of mothers eyes
When their sons come back with testing hives
I said
74, huh good God y’all
What is it good for?
Absolutely nothing, just say it again
74 whoa Lord
What is it good for?
Absolutely nothing,
SDP,
I think Edwin Starr would be proud of your version. For those that don’t know to what song SDP is referring:
Poor, poor, little rich girl, Campbell Brown
The trouble is this know nothing corporate shill gets time on corporate owned media that much of the public counts on for “information.” Then, the lie gets repeated enough until it is accepted as fact.
Boo hoo. She knew what she was inducted into and who is bankrolling her. No tears from me for her. Meanwhile, what companies should we all be boycotting besides Walmart?
Avoid Overstock.com like the plague. The owner bankrolled much of the pro-voucher group when Utah was voting on it in 2006. Vouchers failed, and the Utah legislature has been making teachers pay for it ever since.
The Overstock guy is looking to run for governor of Utah. THAT is all we need.
Utah is overstocked all right –with folks like the Overstock guy.
That’s why I left.
The gift (German for poison) that keeps on giving
Seventy-six Campbell Browns”
(parody of Willson Meredith – Seventy Six Trombones, from “The Music Man”))
Seventy-six Campbell Browns led Reform Parade
With a hundred and ten charter-schools close at hand.
They were followed by rows and rows
Of the wolves-in-sheepy clothes,
The cream of ev’ry famous scam.
Seventy-six Campbell Browns caught the morning shows
With a hundred and ten public schools closed behind
There were more than a thousand Rhees
Springing up like weeds
There were schemes of ev’ry shape and kind.
There were chetty-picking VAMstudies and Gates platoons
Blundering, Blundering all along the way.
Double-billed baloneyums and big buffoons,
Each buffoon having his big, fat say!
There were fifty foolish Canons of Reformery
Blundering, Blundering louder than before
Teacher nets of ev’ry size
And reformers who’d improvise
To game the passing student score
Seventy-six Campbell Browns hit the TV shows,
While a hundred and ten public-schools blazed away.
To the rhythm of Test! Test! Test!
All the kids began to wretch,
And they’re wretching still right today!
extra credit if can name the members of the “buffoon section”
(If you need extra space, use more than one comment box)
Hey-this post gets two songs by our resident poet…Campbell Brown is very inspirational…
Loved this! I thoroughly enjoyed belting out this verse, especially the last line.
“There were cherry-picking VAMstudies and Gates platoons
Blundering, Blundering all along the way.
Double-billed baloneyums and big buffoons,
Each buffoon having his big, fat say!”
Thank you.
Thanks,
…though I actually meant “chetty-picking”
🙂
“Part of what we’re trying to do is break through and make this issue exciting and tangible for people,” Drucker said. “In our mission statement, we’re very clear that we believe the system is broken, and we have journalists and contributors who have very different ideas about what’s broken and how to fix it. We really will be incorporating lots of different perspectives.”
So we’ll see, right? Because we’ve been told again and again that ed reformers are “agnostics” yet the narrative they have created around public schools is relentlessly and overwhelmingly negative, particularly when contrasted with the constant charter school cheerleading.
I frankly don’t believe they’ll buck the other members of “the movement”. I have yet to see it happen.
DIANE, you are telegenic & pretty!!! SO THERE! TAKE THAT.
Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android
From:”Diane Ravitch’s blog” Date:Mon, Jul 27, 2015 at 9:00 AM Subject:[New post] Media Flap Over Treatment of Campbell Brown
dianeravitch posted: “Paul Farhi, a veteran reporter at the Washington Post, wrote an article recently about Campbell Brown’s new “news site” called “The 74,” which is a vehicle for her ongoing campaign against teachers’ unions and tenure and for charters and vouchers. Brown,”
If only “The74” had the cojones to allow discussion of their articles and opinions, you know like on “A site to discuss better education for all”.
Nope, they only want to display to the ignorant masses their self proclaimed astuteness.
There’s a lot of sorrow and anger in being a teacher in America. I guess there always has been really, but today, a LOT of such feelings. And that we have to spend time, and we do, deciding who’s a quisling and who can be trusted is frustrating too. Corwin, a Buckeye sociologist, said a good while back that teachers sacrificed their influence/power in the building in exchange for autonomy in the classroom. Now, the autonomy is too widely stripped and the only option is to fight for some power at all levels to preserve or regain whatever autonomy is possible. But in truth, IF we could get the power to close the door and do teaching in as autonomous a manner as possible, who wouldn’t surrender this necessary evil of political warfare and adult games – just to be able to close the door and teach?
…very well said…
Media have treated ed. reformers as entitled. The entitled are now angry that a counter story, intruded on their narrative.
Media need wealthy advertisers but, they also need circulation. The 99% are the reader/listener numbers. The roar of the 99% has become too loud to ignore.
That’s a fascinating point. I hope you’re right. Sometimes it seems like the billionaires are able to dictate things by financial fiat like the sky is green. If paid enough, would the media accept a circulation of 74? Would the AFT endorse Secretary Duncan for President?
The AFT would endorse Solath Sar if he had financed their operations and made sure that Randi Weingarten got her $400,000 plus yearly salary plus perks and benefits.
It takes one deranged dictator to be able to smell the benefits of another one . . . . Cur from the same non-democratic, corrupt cloth, even if on different ends of it . . . .
On Labor Day, will Weingarten be half way around the world again?
Last year, I appreciated her e-mail message to keep up the fight for workers back here, in her absence.
I was really annoyed at Campbell Brown the other day, so I wrote her a letter:
Dear Campbell Brown,
I used to like you. I remember watching you on the Today Show and CNN awhile back. To me, you felt like a friend, someone I’d like to have over for a cup of coffee or as a member of my bookclub. I see now that you have joined the ranks of school “reformer” and “child advocate”.
I have two kids who attend public school. I am a former special education teacher. I’ve spent years working with children who are living in poverty, dealing with it’s disastrous effects. Currently I am pursuing my doctorate in education, in an effort to continually work on the real problems we face in this field. I have enormous respect for the teaching profession, and I want to do everything that I can to recruit and train great teachers to put in all types of classrooms across this country. I want them to stay in their jobs for many years, and once they become master teachers, I want them to inspire and mentor the next generation of educators.
Teachers, unions, and tenure are not the problem with public education. It seems that you have waged war on teachers because of all of the “teacher sexual predators” who are apparently running rampant in our schools. Let me be clear. The very large majority of teachers are hard working people who decided to teach for the love of the profession, to inspire youth, and to make a difference in society. If a sexual predator makes it into our ranks we would be the first to be outraged and disgusted. Our job is to protect children and we take that very seriously. To my knowledge, I have not met any teacher sexual predators in the almost 20 years I’ve spent in public schools. Teachers, unions, and tenure is NOT the problem with public education.
YOU and your corporate billionaire funders are the real problem. You provide no significant data to support your claims, you refuse to address poverty (the real issue), and your goal is to dismantle the public school system, all in the name of more profits for you and your greedy billionaire donors.
You are not a school reformer, nor are you an advocate. Child advocates spend time with children. Advocates are voices for those in need. They act on their behalf to ensure they receive adequate nutrition, healthcare, education, and they work to help each child meet their own individual potential. Advocates fight tirelessly against poverty. They fight against predators who seek to personally profit off of the most vulnerable children in our society.
Diane Ravitch, a real hero for public education and the teachers and children it serves, has offered to talk with you about the actual problems with public education. Please do that. You are misinformed and misguided. She can help.
In the meantime, I’m going to pay attention to who is benefitting from your scheme, both financially and politically. And I’m going to tell everyone and anyone who will listen.
Please reconsider your actions so that you and your friends don’t destroy public education.
Janet Van Lone
Reblogged this on David R. Taylor-Thoughts on Texas Education.