Teachers on Trial: Five Times the Media Failed Educators in 2014

Teachers faced an unprecedented level of scrutiny in 2014, thanks to a landmark legal case dismantling teacher tenure in California, which is likely to spark copycats lawsuits across the country. In part due to this increased scrutiny, educators also encountered various attacks from mainstream and conservative media over the year, five of which were particularly egregious.

In June, a California Superior Court handed down the decision in the Vergara v. California trial, a case in which “a group of student plaintiffs … argued that state tenure laws had deprived them of a decent education by leaving bad teachers in place.” Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Rolf M. Treu sided with the students, in a ruling that Teacher Wars author Dana Goldstein wrote “has the potential to overturn five state laws governing” how tenure, which helps guarantee due process to prevent “capricious firings,” operates in the state. The lawsuit became something of a model for media attacks — sparking reactions that ranged from outraged to elated — and prompted extensive media discussion about the positives and negatives to reform of the public education system.

Unfortunately, much of this discussion featured direct attacks on educators in 2014. They came from all facets of the media sphere, and were often rooted in conservative misinformation, though some rang louder, stronger, and more abhorrent than others.

Here are the top five times media failed educators in 2014.

5. The Coverage Of Time Magazine’s “Rotten Apples” Cover.

The November 3 cover story of Time magazine, titled “The War on Teacher Tenure” and promoted on the cover as “Rotten Apples,” spurred significant backlash, particularly among teachers, who were dismayed at the portrayal of their profession as “rotten.” The backlash led to a petition calling for an apology from Time that garnered more than 70,000 signatures. In their coverage of the Time backlash, however, several media outlets, including MSNBC’s Morning Joe, Fox News’ Outnumbered, and The Weekly Standard’s blog failed to discuss what was at the heart of the controversy: due process for teachers. These media outlets instead took to doubling down on the allegations of “rotten,” and making outlandish claims.

4. Fox News’ Misplaced Blame On Teachers Unions.

If Fox News can find a way to blame any education controversy on teachers or teachers unions, it will do so. Two such instances in 2014 were particularly egregious. When hundreds of Colorado high school students walked out of class to protest a “conservative-led school board proposal” to change their history curriculum, Fox hosted the country board of education president to falsely allege that “teachers [were] using students” as “pawns” not over the history proposal, but over an upcoming teachers union contract. And in March, when New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that he would block three charter schools from using public school space rent-free, Fox figures took to speculating and attacking teachers and teachers unions, arguing, among other things, that de Blasio was trying to “kiss back butt on the unions” and wage a “war on children.”

3. Glenn Beck’s Book On Public Education.

Glenn Beck’s book Conform, released in May and co-authored with Kyle Olson, lobbed a number of laughable attacks against public schools, the Common Core State Standards, and in particular, teachers. His ridiculous attacks on teachers included claiming that:

• Longer school days help teachers encourage “teen sexual activity.”
• “Most teachers get a raise for not dying over the summer.”
• Teachers’ colleges are “not very hard” to get into and are “Marxist brainwashing factories.”
• “Radical educators” use civil rights to “further their Marxist agenda.”

2. The Koch Connection To A Kansas Law Dismantling Teachers Rights.

In April, the Kansas State Legislature passed a bill in a whirlwind weekend session that “kill[ed] long-held teacher rights” in the state, namely the right to due process. In addition to being pushed by the Koch-funded Americans for Prosperity, the bill was also introduced by a committee whose chairman had ties to the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), which has received “untold sums of cash” from the Koch brothers. None of the three major newspapers in Kansas, however, made the connection between the legislation and the Koch brothers in their original reporting.

1. Lack Of Educator Voices In Cable Evening News Education Coverage.

Media Matters conducted an analysis of education coverage on weeknight cable news programs from January 1 to October 31, 2014, to determine how many of the shows’ guests who discussed the topic were educators. The report found that across CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC, educators made up only 9 percent of guests during education segments, with each network only hosting a total of one, four, and eleven educators, respectively.