Call or write CNN and tell them that their coverage of U.S. education is one-sided and misinformed.
While you are at it, tell CNN that their education “expert” is biased against teachers and unions and public education. That’s the unrenowned “Dr.” Steve Perry.
Thanks to Linda, a regular commenter, for this information:
CNN
One CNN Center, Box 105366, Atlanta, GA 30303-5366
Phone: 404-827-1500
Fax: 404-827-1906
Here is the CNN feedback site:
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Done and shared.
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saw that Michelle Rhee was going to be on this morning. I couldn’t bring myself to watch. Thanks for the push.
Done and shared also
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Dear CNN producers
Please call me so that my colleague and I can offer a much more critical look at the so called education reform going on in the country. The “Dr. Steve Perry narrative” has serious flaws and CNN keeps doing pieces that continue to perpetuate a false narrative. Go to: http://atthechalkface.com/ and see what the real story is about education. We have a blog site a pod cast and a syndicated radio show devoted to exposing the nonsense that accountability is fixing the problem. Accountability and ed reform are destroying America’s system of public education. That’s the story!
Since NCLB (according the National Academies of Science) we have wasted billions of dollars on an accountability system that actually hurts poor kids and damages the education received by all children. This study was conducted last year and followed up again this year. Accountability and charters, choice and school closings are a disaster. To continue to keep reporting that the reforms are working is irresponsible for CNN to do.
Let some other voices be heard.
Thanks for your time,
Tim
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I contacted CNN. I suggested they bring you on so that viewers might get the “rest of the story.” Now, I’m sure they’ll heed my request, so I hope you can fit this appearance at their studios into your busy schedule. We need you, Diane. There are great voices out there, but your persona is all about education, and your expertise can not be surpassed.
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Done and shared. I also wrote, “If you are going to let Michelle Rhee promote her education ideology on your shows you need to give equal time to Diane Ravitch who speaks for real and experienced educators!” I also wrote a whole lot more, lol.
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Does anyone know the email address to Anderson Cooper at CNN? I searched the CNN website, but could not find one.
I think he would respond more to the need to expose what is going on in education. I’d like to send my thoughts directly to him as well as to the general CNN mailbox.
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I wrote!
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I sent the following:
You are engaging in irresponsible and unethical journalism when you interview Michelle Rhee as an authority on education. Don’t you read? There was a well publicized cheating scandal from the time she was superintendent of the DC schools. How did she become an expert? In sports and politics when a cheater is interviewed a journalist asks about the cheating. Why is it that in education you interview a cheater as if she were an expert? Why are you ignoring the other data related to poor performance in school? Do you know that childhood poverty is a problem in this country? CNN what happened to journalistic integrity? Is anybody awake over there?
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E-mail sent. I am forwarding this post far and wide!
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I contacted CNN…with a story tip.
I suggested they act like journalist and really look into education “reform”, instead of just swallowing and passing along as gospel the claims of Rhee etc.
I also suggested they look into Ms Rhee’s personal claims.
Consider:
1. She lied or showed a reckless disregard for the truth about her students’ achievement as a TFA intern;
2. She lied or showed a reckless disregard for the truth about the alleged media attention she claimed on her resume;
3. She lied or showed a reckless disregard for the truth about the DCPS budget;
4. She lied or showed a reckless disregard for the truth about the reason(s) teachers were fired without due process under her watch;
5.She lied or showed a reckless disregard for the truth about any and all educational research;
6. She lied or showed a reckless disregard for the truth about test scores under her watch (they went DOWN during her 3rd year after shrinking during her 2nd, after nearly two decades of steady increases. The more she “reformed” the worse the student’s performance, IF you accept test results as a measure. Look at the trends.);
7. She lied or showed a reckless disregard for the truth about cheating on these tests.
Now remember… SHE PERSONALLY BEEFITED for each of these misstatements, in fact, HER VERY IDENTITY as an “education expert” is her SACRED STORY based ENTIRELY on these falsehoods, you have to question credulity of anyone who even listens to her excuses.
(Someone sent me the above summary of her falsehoods. It is from Guy Brandenburg’s blog http://gfbrandenburg.wordpress.com along with supporting information….I tweaked it a bit to make it shorter. Perhaps we all should all post the list to the comments page or feedback page every time she shows up some place? Maybe someone will look into glory story and then stop listening?)
My final story tip, was to contact Diane for real information on education.
Hope it helps counter the one sized attack!
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Here is the link to the Anderson Cooper feedback form! http://www.cnn.com/feedback/forms/form5.html?10
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Here is the segment on education “reform” with Michelle Rhee this morning on CNN:
http://cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/us/2012/08/04/seg-education.cnn.html
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I just watched this, and she seems to have spoken from a centrist position. Of course, we know that her plans and ideas are a lot more far-reaching than what was portrayed on the show.
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Done………email sent! Thanks for beating the drum!
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Done, thanks!
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I was surprised that you interviewed Michelle Rhee about education in the USA. Rhee is well known as the teacher that duct taped a child’s mouth shut. It is well documented that her agency “Students First” uses duplicitous methods to sign up “supporters.” Worse, her message that American education is in decline is false; the NAEP has shown steady progress. America scored 11 out of 12 nations on its first international test, which was over forty years ago.
I have never heard Rhee acknowledge America’s high level of poverty. More than one in five children in America are raised in poverty, which is disgusting in and of itself. It is also unmatched in the developed world. Worse, neither Rhee nor the media seem to care. American educators do very well considering that no other developed nation on the planet faces such daunting problems.
There are a number of academics that you should consider giving air time. Yang Zhao has recently released a new book called “World Class Learners.” Diane Ravitch’s history “Death and Life of the Great American Public School” remains required reading on education reform in America. You might consider interviewing Linda Darling Hammond as well, who was President Obama’s education adviser. It was terribly disappointing that she was not appointed secretary of education.
The corporate reform that Rhee and her allies support is actually not progressive at all. It is a step backwards. You might consider interviewing Sir Ken Robinson or Alfie Kohn to discuss what reform in America could look like.
In the future, I expect you to do your homework. Here, it seems that you sacrificed honesty and integrity to chase ratings.
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Are we surprised that the corporate owned media are biased?
“Six giant conglomerates own all the major television outlets, radio stations, magazine and book publishing; all of them of markedly conservative persuasion..The Boards of Directors of the print and broadcast mainstream news organizations are populated by representatives from Ford, GM, GE, Alcoa, Coca Cola, Philip Morris, ITT, IBM, AT&T and all sorts of other main stream corporations. Among the three major stockholders are Chase Manhattan, JP Morgan and Citibank, all three are banks and one could go on.” ~ Michael Parenti. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTCPoodUsgU
Clearly business influence in education was there from the get go but it was better hidden!
“It was natural businessmen should devote themselves to something besides business; that they should seek to influence the enactment and administration of laws, national and international, and that they should try to control education.
— Max Otto, Science and the Moral Life (1949)”
Remember Bilderberg! I first learned about these meetings” from a program on Dutch television in 2004. Here a clip of another Dutch show that shines some light on the secret group of the most powerful people in the world. A dutch member of parliament posed official questions of why the queen attends.
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Angry response sent!
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The corporations determine what to put on the news and how to spin it. This is well known. Anderson Cooper has no say whatsoever, and you are naive to think so. This campaign of writing to corporate-owned media won’t do a damn thing. They don’t give a crap! I’ve met these people…You might as well be writing to FOX. Go to “Youtube” and type George Carlin “education.” The news in America is controlled!!! Have you ever read a newspaper from another country? They don’t spend half the time talking about puppy dogs and recipes. Think about it! If the elites (owners) have decided that public education is over, then it is over. Billionaires are paying for their own shows about education and then just presenting their own views. Once in awhile they humor Dr. Ravitch by having her on for 2 minutes, but not anymore. They just wanted to know why she changed sides, and now she will be dismissed by the elites (not by us or professors,but we have NO power!) ..We (serfs/proles/peasants, etc.) don’t have anything to say about what is happening. We were never consulted. Think about it! You all need to see the truth. The elites waited until the right time, and now is the time! Teachers are being scapegoated and no one will stop it. Ralph Nader said that the only chance was to find billionaires willing to fight for the working class. So far none have been found. Imagine that!
Go to Youtube—George Carlin- Education. At the end of his life, George finally saw the truth. He had a high I.Q. All of you would be better off concentrating on changing careers or moving to a country where education is valued. That is what I am doing. America was always about money, and this is the final stage. Wake up fellow teachers! I think it’s time for most of us to move along. All the power is aligned against us! It is game over here in the US! Most of us should have the dignity to leave the profession. I would rather deliver pizzas in Sweden than deal with this crap. Many of the best teachers I know have either retired early, changed careers, or are planning to leave. Let the corporations have the schools. It is too psychologically damaging to keep teaching and fighting under these conditions. Let’s start a “Back to Europe” or “Australia” campaign. We can start our own new expatriate community somewhere else. Think about it! Life could be better (somewhere else).
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Link posted on another thread, but I want all to
Read:
For an excellent point of view on the Randi Weingarten/Campbell Brown duel on Twitter, you should read NYC Educator’s piece on the dust-up. If you haven’t been following it, what happened, briefly, was this:
Campbell Brown, formerly of CNN, wrote an opinion piece for the Wall Street Journal, basically accusing teachers unions of protecting sexual predators. Randi Weingarten jumped into the fray to defend teachers, claiming that even teachers who are accused of sexual infractions are entitled to due process, and can certainly be removed if arrested or if an arbitrator rules the against a teacher. Ms. Brown claims that due process is “protecting” sexual predators, and that teachers should be summarily fired if accused in order to protect children.
One issue that came up in the debate is that Campbell Brown failed to disclose in her piece that her husband, Dan Senor, is on the board of StudentsFirstNY–an organization run by Michelle Rhee.
A cynic might believe that Ms. Brown has an agenda here because of her conflict of interest, but she eventually came clean and admitted that she should have disclosed her close ties to such an staunchly anti-teacher group.
So, who is right? Normally, I would side with Randi on this one, as I believe everyone deserves due process. But recently I heard a case of perverted behavior with a child that can not be ignored in a discussion such as this. This kind of sick behavior must be punished, and I am sure Ms. Brown and Ms. Rhee would agree.
The case involves a teacher who allegedly groped a 16 year old girl. The police recorded a phone call from this teacher apologizing to the girl for what happened. The case was investigated by the police, who declined to prosecute. In the end, the teacher reportedly paid a settlement to the girl to end the matter. As bad as this case was, yet another accusation surfaced against this teacher. A student again complained of inappropriate behavior by this teacher, although she later recanted. Nevertheless, in light of the first settlement paid, coupled with a subsequent allegation of similar misconduct, we should in this case agree with Michelle Rhee and Campbell Brown that this teacher needs to lose his job and shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near young girls.
Oh, wait. My bad. It wasn’t a teacher against whom these allegations were leveled. It was a politician, namely Kevin Johnson, the mayor of Sacramento.
The husband of Michelle Rhee.
I’m sure that any moment now, we can expect Michelle Rhee and Campbell Brown to call for the ouster of Kevin Johnson as mayor. After all, although none of the charges were substantiated and no charges filed, I’m sure they would agree that we can’t allow a little thing like due process stand in the way of protecting our children.
Right, Michelle and Campbell?
Hello?
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Glad it’s on a current thread now…thanks.
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Thanks for posting on Pelto. I also sent the entire text to CNN. Let’s keep exposing them for the frauds they are.
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I had always been an avid fan of CNN’s morning shows because they never had cooking or entertainer-du-jour segments like so many other morning shows.
However, I stopped watching CNN in early July when I endured more of their anti-public education rhetoric during a segment about a school putting itself up for sale on ebay: http://schoolsofthought.blogs.cnn.com/2012/07/03/budget-to-blame-for-school-ebay-sale/#comments
Steve Perry decided to use his interview to bash teachers for the school’s budget woes, a tactic he uses time and again as he “consults” CNN on “education reform” issues.” I cannot take him or CNN anymore.
I’m not surprised that Rhee was also featured on CNN. Rhee is quoted on Perry’s website, among other “players” in the war on public education de-form:
http://www.dr-steveperry.com/Bio.html
[Quote] Author of the forthcoming education bestseller Push Has Come to Shove (Crown Publishing, Sept. 2011), which has been praised by news anchor Soledad O’Brien as “brilliant…a must-read and a must-apply”…entertainer/education activist Bill Cosby as “pure gold” …and former NY City Schools Chancellor Joel Klein as “stellar and powerful.” Former Washington D.C. Schools Chancellor Michele Rhee says of Push Has Come to Shove, “It should be read by everyone who wonders what’s wrong with our schools” while “Waiting for Superman” director Davis Guggenheim, also a huge fan of the book, calls Perry “a powerhouse.” [End quote]
I have responded countless times to Perry’s tirades and CNN’s general extreme anti-public agenda. Enough is enough.
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I don’t understand why this Perry is CNN’s education expert. The fact that he calls his “forthcoming” book a “bestseller” shows what a self-promoter he is. No forthcoming book can be a bestseller unless it is a Harry Potter or Stephen King novel. As I recall, Perry’s book was published and was not a bestseller. He makes a living by trashing teachers and public schools. He is free to his opinions, but CNN sacrifices its reputation for fairness by making him its voice on education issues.
I just looked at amazon, and his book is #50,592.
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Steve Perry is a liar and makes is money by spewing his own personal hatred . I wonder has anyone ever checked into him and where he comes from. I mean he says that he comes from such a bad up bringing and that he grew up in an abusive home but do we know that for a fact or do we take his word for it. If a man would lie about his own family is he the kind ofman we want around our children .
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Done.
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A comment is on its way. Thank you for keeping all of us aware of what is being spread about the “state” of education in the United States.
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