I have received a copy of this story from about 15 different people, all of whom live in Louisiana. The story tells about emails showing that John White, the commissioner of education in Louisiana, hatched a strategy to mislead the media and divert attention from the botched voucher program. After a local newspaper revealed that some of the schools accepting vouchers were little denominational schools that have neither facilities nor teachers, the commissioner had to find a way to change the story from his incompetence to something else.

I guess people send me the story thinking that I will be shocked by the idea of manipulating the media. But living in New York City, I can’t be shocked because we have a Department of Education that has done this sort of thing for the past ten years. They know how to play the press. They put out a blizzard of press releases boasting of their progress, their new programs, their slogans, their latest gimmick. If something goes wrong, they put out another blizzard of self-congratulatory releases. They “muddy the narrative,” as John White put it in one of his emails that were released. They change the conversation. The press falls for it.

This is old news to those of us who live in New York City. John White learned his tricks from the best.

UPDATE:

The Louisiana press is onto the game, thanks to the released emails. The Shreveport Times writes:

Now, we’re looking at legislators who were duped, an education superintendent who’s making it up as he goes along, and a governor who’s traveling the country nonstop running for vice president.

In all of this, we’re wondering — who is really concerned about our children?