tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75527929260214711282024-03-20T04:35:26.838-04:00AcademiatricsAcademic Acrobatics or How I Learned to Love Bhaktin, Studies in Education Policy, and Multiple Chi-Square Regression ANCOVAs ;-) on my way to earning a Ph.D. in Children's LiteratureAnnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16437664516123030421noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7552792926021471128.post-27575735933045589612012-07-13T14:07:00.001-04:002012-07-13T14:12:23.202-04:00<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7fUD2sv5cYM8UnkhkmmD2LzOzdxkF4P8XhXgl7kRsJx2IUTJnf6fCDPzyZpPsVMzpLdCHefAl0IXeuhML4nton-Dcnr4WyOWF0pgOZGXM5VQm5gnuvh-U5Dbqb-DeXEExprNoV0hL7N4/s1600/PostModernPoultryPoetry.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7fUD2sv5cYM8UnkhkmmD2LzOzdxkF4P8XhXgl7kRsJx2IUTJnf6fCDPzyZpPsVMzpLdCHefAl0IXeuhML4nton-Dcnr4WyOWF0pgOZGXM5VQm5gnuvh-U5Dbqb-DeXEExprNoV0hL7N4/s320/PostModernPoultryPoetry.jpg" width="304" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> <a href="http://www.savagechickens.com/">www.savagechickens.com</a></td></tr>
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Couldn't resist this one. It so encapsulates my life at the moment. :-()Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16437664516123030421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7552792926021471128.post-71258133170708677682012-05-28T23:55:00.000-04:002012-05-28T23:55:40.109-04:00Power, Privilege, and (il)Literacy: Part 2<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7ODhK5e6255zmSXTxFjnrEy8ozycaIDFmnooX5UdDmIS7mtuUWHXQdUMhyPPlxJN12mzQwu2dHrdqtEz4nVz-jynrkwDi1KBAPk3ydYsrmdftD3jebLm2iMpIdzmV-lnyW1jbrIpYia8/s1600/Anne2.1953.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7ODhK5e6255zmSXTxFjnrEy8ozycaIDFmnooX5UdDmIS7mtuUWHXQdUMhyPPlxJN12mzQwu2dHrdqtEz4nVz-jynrkwDi1KBAPk3ydYsrmdftD3jebLm2iMpIdzmV-lnyW1jbrIpYia8/s200/Anne2.1953.jpg" width="140" /></a><br />
Some people would argue that this child has an advantage over some other children when it comes to literacy. Someone, they would say, has introduced this child to the concept of reading, of printed text, of photographic images and the information they convey. This child probably sees people reading and is learning to imitate that behavior.
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Because this child probably lives in an environment where people read, the vocabulary to which this child is exposed likely consists of more words and of more complex words.
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizx0I02sUYX0QGVyBbaqjZ8zenRX_LfAQBs6MSBA0ySJmyDyxQ9RKAb88QgXH3OuiKpWF2yuqopU3HsVtQXwBypY5GBXkJQz6OWpsm1gnyXOIxroUrzqom-HEIK63X238yxJqMzQGDorU/s1600/Anne.1958-59.Back.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizx0I02sUYX0QGVyBbaqjZ8zenRX_LfAQBs6MSBA0ySJmyDyxQ9RKAb88QgXH3OuiKpWF2yuqopU3HsVtQXwBypY5GBXkJQz6OWpsm1gnyXOIxroUrzqom-HEIK63X238yxJqMzQGDorU/s200/Anne.1958-59.Back.jpg" width="150" /></a>Fast forward three to four years.<br />
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The drawing on the right was produced by the same child.<br />
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"There, you see," some people would say.<br />
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"Someone put a crayon in that child's hands. That child has tools that will help him or her take advantage of opportunities later in life, opportunities of which other children without those tools will not be able to take advantage. This child is on the road to literacy.<br />
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"This child is privileged."</div>
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Maybe. </div>
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It depends on how we define <i>literacy</i>. </div>
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A <a href="http://lincs.ed.gov/earlychildhood/earlyresearch.html">2009 report to the National Institute for Literacy</a> recommended the definition of literacy be expanded "so researchers can broaden their inquiry to measure multiple aspects of language and literacy" (p. 17). These researchers would be "from many different and complementary fields," including "developmental neurobiology, education, sociology, anthropology, and other fields to develop a full definition of language and literacy" (p. 18). </div>
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Nowhere in the document did the writers offer a definition of literacy. </div>
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What did they do instead?</div>
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Stay tuned. . . </div>
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</div>Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16437664516123030421noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7552792926021471128.post-28234883329427698272012-05-27T13:00:00.003-04:002012-05-27T13:00:52.259-04:00Power, Privilege, and (il)Literacy: Part 1<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8et0xcVHQeGzbMI95M1BA33JxkZZ9eSqAII-TMyLXE38YwEzlwuzkyzTMH6hr80NHcB45BBc536ejzW_heP5Rauxz_TTl8LHwrom2PvbqBbcI7F0fOHOmTFVLXZZusfKfVRnTqSy0oW0/s1600/Anne.1953.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8et0xcVHQeGzbMI95M1BA33JxkZZ9eSqAII-TMyLXE38YwEzlwuzkyzTMH6hr80NHcB45BBc536ejzW_heP5Rauxz_TTl8LHwrom2PvbqBbcI7F0fOHOmTFVLXZZusfKfVRnTqSy0oW0/s320/Anne.1953.jpg" width="224" /></a><br />
Cute kid, huh?<br />
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What does the picture say about this child's life?<br />
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Notice I used the word <i>say </i>rather than <i>show</i>.<br />
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What the picture <i>shows </i>is a very young child, probably Caucasian, with bright eyes and baby-fine hair, wearing overalls and a shirt, sitting on a chair with an open magazine on his/her lap. The magazine is opened to a double-trucked* photograph with a half-page column that appears to contain text. The child's mouth is open; the child is looking directly at the camera or the person behind the camera. The child's arm is raised and the child's hand is either behind or just touching his/her ear. Deep shadows lie to the right (in the picture -- it would actually be to the left of the child) of each object within the picture.<br />
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But what does the picture <i>say</i>? Of equal importance, what does the picture not say? And what is implied?<br />
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Well, the child in the picture is clothed and appears healthy and well-fed, which suggests someone provides for this child's physical needs. The child is sitting on an upholstered chair, which suggests someone in the child's life has a concept of furniture (or at least of chairs) and an awareness of their purposes. the magazine in the child's lap suggests someone in the child's life has a concept of reading The child looks directly at the camera/person behind the camera and the expression on the child's face is neither sad nor angry nor fearful, which suggests some level of trust with whatever is taking place. The deep shadows come from an otherwise unseen bright light on the left (the child's right). An unseen someone with a camera has captured this child in this moment.<br />
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What the picture does not say -- does not tell us -- is who the child is, how the picture came to be, what happened afterward, or a host of other things. Some questions left unanswered are:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ9TLSeW1k1bGbPcihXKzsQV5H02YqWC86I5jlf_8sgDo20QYyIFPjdMS0oCmmACxbVa08_X5OuFhN5fIrmbo8qkrPBfRrjBWKsdDBMicpjhW3rr-7kuVcLV4cHcgN-148BMBryEo4gfc/s1600/Anne2.1953.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ9TLSeW1k1bGbPcihXKzsQV5H02YqWC86I5jlf_8sgDo20QYyIFPjdMS0oCmmACxbVa08_X5OuFhN5fIrmbo8qkrPBfRrjBWKsdDBMicpjhW3rr-7kuVcLV4cHcgN-148BMBryEo4gfc/s320/Anne2.1953.jpg" width="224" /></a></div>
<ul><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwfkabpu005nNG8O_dUCisB-JRpW-lnzFt0xn9KpheHFYZXIHo5tW8mB8QF4spY3B_QI_AhW7q6klL1smC1J3hp809pvBtuRX_cVjEdZL3osPSEs083iRWXS-bfC3GO-vCTJrPPuR2mfI/s1600/argosy_195504.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwfkabpu005nNG8O_dUCisB-JRpW-lnzFt0xn9KpheHFYZXIHo5tW8mB8QF4spY3B_QI_AhW7q6klL1smC1J3hp809pvBtuRX_cVjEdZL3osPSEs083iRWXS-bfC3GO-vCTJrPPuR2mfI/s320/argosy_195504.jpg" width="217" /></a>
<li><b>When was the picture taken? </b>Photography began in the 1800s, but magazines containing photographs didn't appear until the early 20th century. Another photograph in the sequence reveals the magazine is <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argosy_(magazine)">Argosy</a></i>, and a <a href="http://www.philsp.com/mags/argosy_5.html">search of covers</a> indicates this is the April, 1955 issue. We can infer the picture was taken sometime after that month and year, but that is as far as we can narrow the <i>when</i> without testing the original for the chemicals used to process the photo.</li>
<li><b>Where was the picture taken?</b> <i>Argosy</i> was an American magazine, generally considered a men's pulp fiction magazine -- albeit with stories by writers such as Erle Stanley Gardner -- so we can infer the picture probably was taken somewhere in the United States of America. . . or on an American military base. . . or in an American territory (Guam?). . . or in any of the many other places Americans have traveled and lived.</li>
<li><b>Who is the child?</b> Given the information above, and barring the possibility the child may have been adopted, it is likely the child is an American child. Given the general appearance of the child, the child's clothing, the upholstered chair, the magazine, and the existence of a camera, it is likely the child is not a child of extreme poverty. Given the informal setting and the quality of the magazine, it is likely -- but not certain -- the child is not a child of extreme wealth. Beyond that, we don't know the child's gender, the child's internal health, the child's abilities or inabilities, the child's family structure, the child's culture, or anything else about the child. We can't even be sure of the child's racial/ethnic heritage.</li>
<li><b>What was the occasion for the picture?</b> I can think of two possibilities. <i><b>In one scenario</b></i>, the child finds the magazine, drags it to the chair, puts the magazine on the chair, climbs up into the chair, and arranges himself/herself in a position simulating reading activity the child previously has observed. The person behind the camera takes advantage of a serendipitous moment and captures the child in action. <i><b>In the second scenario</b></i>, the person behind the camera or some other person places the child in the chair and places the magazine on the child's lap to suggest the child has indicated an interest in reading the magazine. The person behind the camera captures a staged moment. Are there other possible scenarios? Of course! Can I think of them at the moment? Nope.</li>
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What does this have to do with literacy?<br />
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Stay tuned. . .<br />
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<i>*A double-trucked photo spreads across two pages.</i><br />
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</div>Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16437664516123030421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7552792926021471128.post-71036557274136247312011-09-23T20:00:00.000-04:002011-09-23T20:00:26.170-04:00Challenging the Constrictions of "Developmentally Appropriate" ChainsRecently, I had a conversation with a colleague from a different department. I mentioned I was working on a paper about how teachers perceive parents.<br />
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She nodded, and made some comment about how teachers talk about parents.<br />
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"I know a kindergarten teacher," she said, "who had a child yanked out of her class the third week of school because the parents were upset that she had not corrected the child's spelling on something."<br />
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She went on to say the teacher had tried to explain to the parents that inventive spelling is developmentally appropriate at this age and that correcting the child's spelling this early in her schooling could be detrimental.<br />
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"Can you imagine the parents pulling her out of the class the third week of kindergarten over something like this?" she concluded.<br />
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When I suggested that maybe the parents were right to be concerned, my colleague clearly thought I was one French fry short of a Happy Meal, as the colloquialism goes.<br />
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Really?<br />
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Let's first note that such reputable, parent-friendly online sources as <a href="http://www.education.com/magazine/article/The_Dos_and_Donts_Invented/">Education.com</a> back up this view of invented spelling, noting that it may be frustrating for parents to ignore misspellings but that the important thing is that "Children should feel like successful, independent writers" (para. 5).<br />
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But what does developmentally appropriate mean, and why do I call them constricting chains?<br />
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Stay tuned.Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16437664516123030421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7552792926021471128.post-39449897954791459492011-08-05T12:55:00.004-04:002011-08-05T14:28:19.322-04:00Final Tally -- Second Tier News Outlets Ed Policy People Should Monitor(Want to multitask? Listen to this post by clicking the link embedded in the title above.)<br />
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It never fails.<br />
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All the good stuff pops up at the end. That's what has happened as I have read and searched and tried to understand the relationship between the news media and how policy develops.<br />
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I have revisited my journalism studies, looking specifically for information about 1) how journalists report on policy, especially education policy, and 2) more specifically, how the way journalists report on education policy affects the way policy is formed.<br />
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I also have read books about making policy, looking specifically for information about how policy makers -- widely defined -- use news media as a tool and/or view news media as a factor in the policy-making process.<br />
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What I have seen so far, leads me to believe a blind spot may exist.<br />
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Policy analysts tend to comment on what the news reports said -- but not on how the way the news was reported might affect the process. Journalists -- who, by the nature of their jobs, generally don't broadcast their introspections -- tend to look at what each other is reporting, how, and whether they can apply that to their local community.<br />
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As a result, each group plays the other and neither group is willing to acknowledge playing anything at all.<br />
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In an article in the <i>International Journal of Leadership in Education</i>, Stack (2010) put it this way, "Policy makers and journalists attempt to mobilize symbolic capital within and across their fields to be seen as having knowledge that is worthy of recognition" (p. 108).<br />
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Or as Kaniss put it, speaking specifically of reporters (but applicable to all of us) who have an innate desire to “write the most important story of the day and have it given the greatest prominence” (Kaniss, 1991, p. 73).<br />
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: 12pt;"> </span>Look, for instance, at the <a href="http://www.ewa.org/site/PageServer">Education Writers Association</a>'s Web site. Notice that the left rail features paid press release space, i.e., fodder from policy organizaitons for potential news stories they're hoping writers will pick up on. And here is the focus of the site, captured in a link to recent EWA contest winners:<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 10px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 10px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><a class="NewsHeadlineList" href="http://www.ewa.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=9908&news_iv_ctrl=1845" style="color: #8d191c; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif; font-weight: bold;">How We Did the Story: Contest Winners Share Tips on Ed Beat</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 10px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 10px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif;" /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 10px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 10px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">On Ed Beat, several winners of our 2010 contest have shared the process they used to bring their acclaimed stories to their readers. This is a great resource for writers on the ed beat to pick up pointers for their own reporting, and to gain new insight into the stories that shaped the national education conversation in 2010.</span><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">So where does that leave me with this particular several-week study and what else have I learned?<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">Last question first: As a result of this particular assignment, I have reacquainted myself with IMovie and its podcast-making capabilities. I was familiar with a previous version of IMovie – had even made some 3-5 minute videocasts – then, unknowingly, bought a newer version – and was suddenly stymied. I’m finding the newer version requires some coaxing, but I’m seeing the possibilities once again. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">My journalistic curiosity has been reawakened. For a while, it was easier to let policy pass me by. I’m even considering watching the school board meetings again. Hardcore stuff. How that will figure in to children’s literature, I’m not sure.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Finally, I’ve been amazed at the multitude of well-developed online outlets that have sprung up over the last couple of years. I shouldn’t be, of course. With so many traditional news outlets trimming staff and with so many online opportunities for entrepreneurial types – and concerned citizen-stakeholders – the increase in online alternative coverage was bound to happen. In a previous post, I listed two. My final tally lists six – by next month there could be more.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Which leads me back to where I’m left at the end of this several-weeks study of the relationship between news media and education policy.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Answer? In two places:<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-pagination: none; mso-text-indent-alt: -.5in; tab-stops: 11.0pt .5in; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.5in;">1) I have a much better awareness of the myriad national and local second-tier news sources (<a href="http://academiatrics.blogspot.com/p/second-tier-national-and-local-news.html"><span style="color: #001ee6;">view the list here</span></a>) I need to monitor to have a more well-rounded picture of the education world in general and of education policy in particular, and <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-pagination: none; mso-text-indent-alt: -.5in; tab-stops: 11.0pt .5in; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.5in;">2) I have a focus for a deeper study of how the two worlds affect each other. The good stuff that came at the end is good, indeed, but it deserves its own study and not to be tacked on to the end of this one.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-pagination: none; mso-text-indent-alt: -.5in; tab-stops: 11.0pt .5in; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Stay tuned.<o:p></o:p></div><br />
<div><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">References:</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 32px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Kaniss, P. (1991). Kaniss, P. (1991). Making Local News. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 32px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Making Local News</span></i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 32px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 32px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Stack, M. L. (April-June 2010). Spin as symbolic capital: The fields of journalism and education policy-making. </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">International Journal of Leadership in Education, 1</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">3(2), 107-119.</span></span></span></div>Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16437664516123030421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7552792926021471128.post-90939355037084855032011-07-14T21:04:00.006-04:002011-07-29T15:13:35.237-04:00The In's and Out's of this Study of Second-tier News Media and Education Policy: Part ThreeNope. I didn't forget where this discussion was headed.<br />
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It's just so easy to get diverted onto side trails and to wander among Elysian Fields of anything but education policy. Not that I'm not enjoying this excursion into the quagmires of policy and legislation. But, hmmmm, quagmires vs. Elysian Fields should say something.<br />
<br />
So -- back to the in's and out's of this study of second-tier media. We've issued a <a href="http://academiatrics.blogspot.com/2011/06/ins-and-outs-of-this-study-of-second.html">cautionary caveat about the tangled web of media ownership</a>. And we've noted <a href="http://academiatrics.blogspot.com/2011/06/ins-and-outs-of-this-study-of-second_10.html">what's out</a> as far as this study is concerned: obvious first-tier national and local news organizations, local news organizations without a Web presence, other-than-English news outlets, and one online blog about local education but written by reporters for a first-tier local news organization.<br />
<br />
So what's in?<br />
<br />
In order to answer that question -- we're getting there, I promise -- we need to look at how the news media landscape has shifted over the last several years. Specifically, we need to look at some upstart new players.<br />
<br />
The <a href="http://www.journalism.org/">Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism</a> issued its annual report on American Journalism recently. <a href="http://stateofthemedia.org/">The State of the News Media 2011</a> made note of a couple of very interesting developments in the area of online news sources which, to no one's surprise, continue to claim a larger percentage of news followers.<br />
<br />
The changes are two-fold. First, the players are changing. It's not just traditional news organizations putting up Web sites and sharing news from print to Web and back again. Second, the delivery substructure is changing so drastically that the relationship between news organization and news consumer is convoluted and tenuous.<br />
<br />
In fact, the Pew report said, "It may be than in the digital realm the news industry is no longer in control of its own future."<br />
<br />
Why?<br />
<br />
Mainly because the behind-the-scenes online conduit components are not owned by the newspapers themselves. Print newspapers print their own papers, or hire a printer to do so, and hire delivery people to drop them on people's doorsteps or to fill vending machines. News broadcasters generally broadcast over frequencies owned by their company.<br />
<br />
But online distribution is more complicated. As the Pew report points out, device makers, software developers, news aggregators, and social networks each have their own platform requirements and rules. And, while the end user, i.e. the news consumer, doesn't usually pay for news except when he/she buys a new computer (not seen in the same light as buying a news subscription), each of these links in the distribution news chain cost news organizations money.<br />
<br />
Of more concern, the news consumer may access the news by clicking on a link on a social networking site -- but the link may have originated with a friend of a friend of a friend in Outer Mongolia. Indirect links make it almost impossible for news organizations to track audience data, which they use to target content and advertising to specific audiences and which is the commodity they sell to advertisers.<br />
<br />
The results? The Pew report says, "Financially, the tipping point also has come. When the final tally is in, online ad revenue in 2010 is projected to surpass print newspaper ad revenue for the first time. The problem for news is that by far the largest share of that online ad revenue goes to non-news sources, particularly to aggregators."<br />
<br />
Here's the kicker. Those news aggregators -- Yahoo, AOL, Bloomberg, and others -- are developing their own news organizations. Some of them can be considered second-tier news organizations -- for the time being, at least. Another ten years and, who knows?<br />
<br />
(See, I told you I hadn't forgotten where we were headed!)<br />
<br />
So -- here's what I'm including in this particular review:<br />
<br />
Second-tier national media sources:<br />
<br />
<ul><li><a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/">The Christian Science Monitor</a></li>
<li><a href="http://Poynter.org/">Poynter.org</a></li>
<li><a href="http://mediabullpen.com/">Media Bullpen</a></li>
</ul>Second-tier state and local (Tampa Bay area, i.e., Hillsborough and Pinellas Counties) media sources:<br />
<br />
<ul><li><a href="http://www.clearwatergazette.com/">Clearwater Gazette</a></li>
<li><a href="http://cltampa.com/">Creative Loafing Tampa</a></li>
<li><a href="http://thefloridacatholic.org/iv/">Florida Catholic</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.flcourier.com/">Florida Courier</a></li>
<li><a href="http://flsentinel.com/">Florida Sentinel Bulletin</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.jewishpresstampabay.com/">Jewish Press</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.khaasbaat.com/index.htm">Khaas Baat</a></li>
<li><a href="http://cnewspubs.com/">The News</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/tampabay/">Tampa Bay Business Journal</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.tbnweekly.com/">Tampa Bay Newspapers</a></li>
<li><a href="http://theweeklychallenger.com/news/default.asp">The Weekly Challenger</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.baynews9.com/">Bay News 9</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.wedu.org/">WEDU</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.wpds.tv/">WPDS-TV</a></li>
</ul>Second-tier online newbies:<br />
<br />
<ul><li><a href="http://Patch.com/">Patch.com</a></li>
<li><a href="http://saintpetersblog.com/">St. Petersblog</a></li>
</ul><br />
Whew!<br />
<br />
Who are all these people?<br />
<br />
Stay tuned!Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16437664516123030421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7552792926021471128.post-37983141811970954282011-07-14T17:37:00.000-04:002011-07-14T17:37:23.192-04:00Video of Christopher Cross Speaking on Education PolicyHere's a link to an 8-minute video of Christopher Cross speaking about national education policy. The video is an edited version of an almost 90-minute talk Cross gave at one of the Gottesman Libraries, part of <a href="http://www.columbia.edu/">Columbia University</a>'s <a href="http://www.tc.columbia.edu/">Teacher College</a>.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://gottesman.pressible.org/govan/political-education-national-policy-comes-of-age">http://gottesman.pressible.org/govan/political-education-national-policy-comes-of-age</a>Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16437664516123030421noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7552792926021471128.post-26755490003225207292011-07-01T17:08:00.002-04:002011-07-02T00:55:12.059-04:00Quick Note: Nothing Funny About Stephen Colbert's Super PACCheck out this <i><a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/DC-Decoder/2011/0701/In-time-for-Election-2012-a-Stephen-Colbert-super-PAC.-What-is-that">Christian Science Monitor</a></i> article about comedian Stephen Colbert forming -- for real -- a super PAC or political action committee. According to the article, this enables Colbert to receive donations in <i>unlimited amounts </i>from individuals, corporations, and organizations. The superPAC can't donate directly to candidates for office, but it can spend unlimited amounts advocating for or against a particular candidate.<br />
<br />
Officially, the name of the super PAC is <a href="http://www.colbertsuperpac.com/">Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow</a>.<br />
<br />
[Aside: Does the second "tomorrow" mean "as in now, not next year or ten years from now," which is my guess. But the cynic in me says it also could mean tomorrow as in "I'll do it tomorrow" and "tomorrow never comes."]<br />
<br />
Jumping through the legal hoops of establishing a superPAC is a far cry from writing an editorial in a newspaper. But, historically, newspapers have often begun as the mouthpiece of one political party or another. And who knows what goes on behind the scenes.<br />
<br />
How does Colbert intend to use the money? Let's turn to another <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/The-Vote/2011/0630/Stephen-Colbert-gets-OK-for-super-PAC.-What-will-he-use-it-for">CSM article</a> for more insight.<br />
<br />
And here's the fine print from ABTT's home page: <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11px;">Contributions to Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow ("ABTT") are not deductible as charitable contributions for federal income tax purposes. ABTT may accept unlimited corporate contributions, unlimited individual contributions, unlimited labor-union contributions, and unlimited PAC contributions. Contributions from foreign nationals and federal-government contractors will not be accepted. *Federal law requires ABTT's best efforts to obtain and report the name, address, occupation, and employer of any individual who contributes more than $200 in a calendar year.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;"><br />
</span></span><br />
Interesting that the curious reader cannot access the inner workings of the Web site without "joining" by providing an email address -- presumably, anyway. The only instruction is "Join Us:" followed by a data entry box, which is then followed by a "Submit" button. I tried entering Curious George, but got an "Invalid email address" note.<br />
<br />
Who is on the board? Where is the office located? What are the planned expenditures? How will Mr. Colbert himself benefit?<br />
<br />
The only clue to the answer to any of these questions is <a href="http://www.colbertsuperpac.com/advisory/Advisory-Opinion.pdf">a link to the 10-page letter</a> from the <a href="http://www.fec.gov/">Federal Election Commission</a> notifying Colbert's attorneys that his request has been approved. That letter is addressed to:<br />
<br />
<div style="font: 12px Helvetica; margin: 0px;">Trevor Potter, Esq.</div><div style="font: 12px Helvetica; margin: 0px;">Joseph Birkenstock, Esq.</div><div style="font: 12px Helvetica; margin: 0px;">Matthew T. Sanderson, Esq.</div><div style="font: 12px Helvetica; margin: 0px;">Caplin & Drysdale Chtd.</div><div style="font: 12px Helvetica; margin: 0px;">One Thomas Circle, NW</div><div style="font: 12px Helvetica; margin: 0px;">Suite 1100</div><div style="font: 12px Helvetica; margin: 0px;">Washington, DC 20005</div><br />
Stay tuned.Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16437664516123030421noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7552792926021471128.post-2546925549417626562011-06-24T12:50:00.002-04:002011-07-14T17:41:07.307-04:00Looking Back Before Moving AheadWelcome to this second podcast (click on title above) looking at second-tier media and its role in disseminating information about education policy.<br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">So far, we have looked at the current media landscape. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">We have explored the <a href="http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=1406">web of ownership</a> that might lead to conflicts of interest and pressures to suppress, distort, exaggerate, or promote news. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">We have distinguished between first-tier and second-tier news media outlets—a somewhat artificial designation that exists in the eye of the beholder.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">And we have noted that not every news outlet is designated as such. News aggregator Web sites, satirical comedy shows, and blogs each play a part in feeding the news stream. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">What I have found so far is a fairly empty landscape when it comes to thinking about what the news produces in terms of content. My guess is that the voluminous nature of the news stream makes it almost impossible to study except in tiny samples—a bit like trying to study the water flowing through Hoover Dam by the eyedropper full.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">In any case, here is what I have noticed so far:</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Books about Education Policy </b>refer to coverage by major news outlets only incidentally and never consider second-tier news media outlets at all.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><a href="http://www.edstrategies.net/">Christopher Cros</a>s, for instance, in his book <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Political Education: National Policy Comes of Age</i>, cites various articles appearing in major newspapers, but he makes few comments about the coverage itself or about its impact. When he does comment, it is without explanation or analysis [“The <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Washington Post</i>, in an unseemly reference, called it a ‘political Jonestown’ (Heffernan, 2001, p. 472).”] <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">Even in the next-to-the-last chapter, Chapter 8 “Lessons Learned From a Half Century of Federal Policy Development,” Cross buries comments about communication problems of any kind as a factor in shaping public policy under the sub-heading of “The Federal Government Deserves a D in Implementing Programs, Building Capacity at the State and Local Level, and Getting Timelines Right” (p. 147). In this eight-paragraph section, astounding for its understatement, Cross quotes Barry White as saying that “when things fail, and they often do, it is almost always due to the lack of an implementation plan” (p. 147). Cross says major changes in federal law come with money for “technical assistance, training, and support,” and that this is a “problem that plagues all human –services programs” (p. 147).<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">The main problem? Communication. “How,” Cross asks, “does a politician <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">explain</i></b> [emphasis added] supporting the salaries of ‘bureaucrats’ rather than expanding services, even if the quality of the services suffers from the lack of the capacity to deliver them?” (p. 147). Then Cross says the “communication pipeline is inefficient and, as in the old game of telephone, messages are often received—if at all—with the content distorted as it passes from layer to layer, person to person” (p. 147). Web site designs are responsive to people seeking information rather than actively disseminating information. And, Cross says, the time lines in most bills don’t even consider school starting dates, when staff members are generally hired, or other important dates—information is not being sought or communicated. If internal communication is this faulty, can we assume external communication with an aggressive press is any better?<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Books about Journalism </b>dismiss second-tier media as unimportant. <a href="http://www2.mssu.edu/International/africa/hachten.htm">William A. Hatchen</a>, a professor in the School of Journalism at the University of Wisconsin, mentions second-tier news media twice in his book <i>The troubles of Journalism: A Critical Look at What’s Right and Wrong with the Press. </i>While Hatchen presents a comprehensive look at first-tier news media, Hatchen also mentions two second-tier media sources without seeming to understand the importance attached to what he says about them. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.25in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">1)<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></b>On page 10, Hatchen devotes all of one paragraph to weekly newspapers, numbering, at the time, about 7,500. Hatchen says the total circulation of weekly papers was, at the time, around 55 million. 55 million!!! Hatchen has just finished listing the major daily papers and said the total circulation of the dailies was about 63 million. The circulation of the weekly papers almost equals the circulation of the dailies, but Hatchen only devotes one paragraph to this vibrant facet of print journalism.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.25in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">2)<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></b>On page 17, Hatchen says most of the news Americans were getting about what was happening in foreign countries came from just seven daily newspapers: “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Chicago Tribune, The Christian Science Monitor</i>, and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Baltimore Sun</i>—which all maintain overseas news bureaus.” What does it say that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Christian Science Monitor</i> is never mentioned again in the book, even though its ownership and financial model is unique and even though it has earned a reputation for quality, neutral reporting? Today, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Christian Science Monitor</i> is published weekly, but its Web site is still updated 24/7. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The academic world seems equally devoid of information about either second-tier news media or about the relationship between journalism and education policy. A search of several databases using the terms “second-tier” and “media” yielded nothing. Because news media often is concerned with reaching a particular market, I next searched “second-tier markets,” which gave me 1,114 articles—almost all of which dealt with the stock market or commodities. The remainder dealt with the real estate market and other financial matters.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Switching gears to “weekly newspapers” and “education” gave me 19 hits, most of which explored 19<sup>th</sup> century newspapers, college newspapers, or were otherwise unrelated. That’s not to say college newspapers should not be included in discussions of education policy. But the articles focused on management issues than on what they reported.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">A search of “journalism” and “education policy” gave me 12 hits—all but one originating outside the United States. These articles will be the subject of the next few blog postings.<br />
<br />
Stay tuned.</div>Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16437664516123030421noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7552792926021471128.post-26680243276212288702011-06-22T13:55:00.005-04:002011-06-22T23:31:32.083-04:00An Aside: News Comedy as a Type of Second-Tier News Media<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/e2yOb20Ia24?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><br />
<br />
This posting is supposed to be a podcast (by me) updating my faithful followers as to my discoveries about second-tier news media and their role in the dissemination of education policy.<br />
<br />
It's not. Instead, I bring you an <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aside">aside</a> -- a look at another form of second-tier news media, news comedy.<br />
<br />
A 2009 <a href="http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/lifestyle/entertainment/march_2009/nearly_one_third_of_younger_americans_see_colbert_stewart_as_alternatives_to_traditional_news_outlets">Rasumussen Reports</a> survey indicated that "nearly one-third of Americans under the age of 40 say satirical news-oriented television programs like <a href="http://www.colbertnation.com/home">The Colbert Report</a> and <a href="http://www.thedailyshow.com/">The Daily Show with Jon Stewart</a> are taking the place of traditional news outlets."<br />
<br />
Of course, satirizing the news -- especially political news, which is how most top-tier news outlets tend to define news -- is nothing, pardon the pun, new.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.nbc.com/the-tonight-show/">Jay Leno</a> and <a href="http://www.cbs.com/late_night/late_show/">David Letterman</a> do so every weekday night on broadcast TV; <a href="http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/">Saturday Night Live</a> has the weekend shift. Before them, there were <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Carson">Johnny Carson</a>, <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laugh-In">Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In</a></i>, <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smothers_Brothers_Comedy_Hour">The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour,</a></i> and <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/That_Was_The_Week_That_Was">That Was The Week That Was</a></i> (TW3) hosted by none other than <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Frost_(broadcaster)">Sir David Frost</a>.<br />
<br />
Before TV, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_Rogers">Will Rogers</a> captivated radio audiences. <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The surviving copies of </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Weekly Lampoon</span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=7552792926021471128#_ftn1" name="_ftnref" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">[1]</span></span></a></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> and </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Momus Ridens Or, Comical Remarks on the Publick Reports</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">,</span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=7552792926021471128#_ftn2" name="_ftnref" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">[2]</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> two British periodicals of the early 1690s, suggest that the alternative press probably has a history as old as the mainstream press. Today, </span><a href="http://www.theonion.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The Onion</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> is one of the better known of the satirical newspapers/news sites.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">From ancient times, fools or </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jester"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">jesters</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> were appointed, with impunity, to criticize those in authority -- to say the things that needed to be said but that no one else dared to.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"></span>One problem I see with relying too heavily on comedy news sites is that they are really, really good at mocking politicos and at pointing out what's wrong. They seldom stray into the areas of what's right, nor do they tend to stick around long enough to try to figure out how to fix something. They make us laugh, but do they motivate us to act?<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://unclejayexplains.com/">Uncle Jay</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> is one of my favorite news satirists. In the video above, he discusses the word "euphemism."</span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"></span>What euphemisms are used in the world of education?<br />
<br />
Podcast coming soon.<br />
<br />
Stay tuned.<br />
<br />
<div style="mso-element: footnote-list;"><hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" /><div id="ftn"><div class="MsoFootnoteText"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=7552792926021471128#_ftnref" name="_ftn1" title=""></a></span><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">[1]</span></span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Weekly Lampoon</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> (London, 1690). <o:p></o:p></span></span></div></div><div id="ftn" style="mso-element: footnote;"><div class="MsoFootnoteText"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=7552792926021471128#_ftnref" name="_ftn2" title=""></a></span></span><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">[2]</span></span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Momus Ridens: Or, Comical Remarks on the Publick Reports</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> (London, 1690-1691).</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Also referred to as </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Momus Ridens: Comical Remarks on the Weekly Reports</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> in some issues.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Both </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Weekly Lampoon</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> and </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Momus Ridens</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> were “printed and are to be sold by Randal Taylor , near Stationers-Hall.”</span></span></div></div></div>Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16437664516123030421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7552792926021471128.post-28636622889261795062011-06-18T11:54:00.000-04:002011-06-18T11:54:37.187-04:00Want More Info? Check out my bibliographyLook for the Annotated Bibliography: Media link on the right rail . . . or click <a href="http://academiatrics.blogspot.com/p/annotated-bibliography-media.html">here</a> to go to this page. Check back to see what new sources I have found and reviewed.<br />
<br />
Watch for other annotated bibliography pages, too. The Resources link will combine the citations for them all.<br />
<br />
At least, that's the plan.<br />
<br />
:-)Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16437664516123030421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7552792926021471128.post-21908701820098494772011-06-10T16:47:00.000-04:002011-06-10T16:47:41.820-04:00The In's and Out's of this Study of Second-tier News Media and Education Policy: Part TwoWhat news organizations am I not considering in this particular exploration?<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">OUT:</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Obvious national first-tier news media outlets: </span><a href="http://www.dowjones.com/"><span style="color: #001ee6; font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Dow Jones & Company</span></span></a></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">*-owned </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Wall Street Journal; </span><a href="http://blogs.forbes.com/danbigman/2011/04/13/audio-pioneer-and-newsweek-owner-sidney-harman-dies-at-93/"><span style="color: #001ee6; font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Sidney Harmon</span></span></a></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> and </span><a href="http://www.iac.com/"><span style="color: #001ee6;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">IAC-</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">owned </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Newsweek </span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">magazine</span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">;</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><a href="http://www.nytco.com/company/index.html"><span style="color: #001ee6; font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">New York Times Company</span></span></a></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">-owned </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">New York Times</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">, </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">International Herald</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> and </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Boston Globe</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">; </span><a href="http://www.timeinc.com/aboutus/"><span style="color: #001ee6;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Time Warner</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">-owned </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Time</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> magazine; </span><a href="http://www.turner.com/"><span style="color: #001ee6;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Turner Broadcasting System</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">**-owned CNN; </span><a href="http://www.washpostco.com/"><span style="color: #001ee6;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Washington Post Company</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">***-owned </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Washington Post.</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i>* Dow Jones & Company is a </i></span><a href="http://www.newscorp.com/management/board.html"><span style="color: #001ee6;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i>News Corporation</i></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i> (Rupert Murdoch-controlled) company.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i>**Turner Broadcasting System is a Time Warner company.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i>***Since 1984, the Washington Post Company also has owned </i></span><a href="http://www.kaplan.com/pages/default.aspx"><span style="color: #001ee6;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Kaplan, Inc</i></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i>., test preparation and education company. WPC also owns CableOne, among other businesses.</i><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Obvious local first-tier news media outlets:</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> News Corporation-owned and Fox-affiliated WTVT-TV Channel 13; <a href="http://www.gannett.com/section/BRANDS&template=cover">Gannett</a>-owned and CBS-affiliate WTSP-TV Channel 10; <a href="http://www.mediageneral.com/">Media General</a>-owned outlets </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The Tampa Tribune, </span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">TBO.com, and NBC-affiliate WFLA-TV Channel 8; <a href="http://www.scripps.com/">Scripps</a>-owned**** and ABC- affiliate WFTS-TV Channel 28; and Times Publishing Company-owned </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">St. Petersburg Times</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">, </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">tbt*</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> (</span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Tampa Bay Today</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">), and TampaBay.com.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i>****E. W. Scripps sponsors the National Spelling Bee.</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Not-so-obvious news first-tier media outlet</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">: </span><a href="http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/gradebook/"><span style="color: #001ee6;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Gradebook</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> is an online blog written by the education reporters at the </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">St. Petersburg Times</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">. While it offers much in the way of convenience -- gathering in one spot news articles about education in five counties and at the University of South Florida -- and while it offers the combined talents of six education reporters, it is still part of the </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">St. Petersburg Times.</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Some second-tier news media outlets: </span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">These fall into roughly two categories: </span></span></b><br />
<br />
<ul><li>The Tampa Bay area has a number of <b>other-than-English-language news media</b> outlets. Some of these are owned by first-tier outlets, and some are independent. These news outlets collectively are an extremely important factor to consider, but it would be presumptuous of me, knowing only functional German and less Spanish, to try to comment on their coverage.</li>
<li><b>Any news outlet without a fully functional Web site</b>. Again, these outlets collectively are an extremely important factor to consider, but the logistics of collecting these publications are prohibitive for this particular examination. </li>
</ul><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Third-tier media:</b> Admittedly an arbitrary decision on my part, I am excluding all locally published magazines.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span><br />
For the most part, these are the Out's, the news media outlets I am excluding.<br />
<br />
What's In?<br />
<br />
Stay tuned.<br />
<br />
<br />
</div>Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16437664516123030421noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7552792926021471128.post-17234317408201069682011-06-03T20:14:00.000-04:002011-06-03T20:14:29.080-04:00The In's and Out's of this Study of Second-tier News Media and Education Policy: Part One<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAMLFtlLNEPJRHGktA8mhWAzYPrMQ70TErvpL3qvgtiWBpItfan5sgYt5dP7xkxJtAVptnlvcMrHe_du7EOtGX0AhmdP6qfnB5TprjNjvvaOlB86ZE49Ndrk0mVcWv3T41vIGPcmudrQ0/s1600/Web+-+GalleryPlayer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAMLFtlLNEPJRHGktA8mhWAzYPrMQ70TErvpL3qvgtiWBpItfan5sgYt5dP7xkxJtAVptnlvcMrHe_du7EOtGX0AhmdP6qfnB5TprjNjvvaOlB86ZE49Ndrk0mVcWv3T41vIGPcmudrQ0/s200/Web+-+GalleryPlayer.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From Microsoft Gallery</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
What's In and what's Out in this exploration of second-tier news media and their role in disseminating information about education policy?<br />
<br />
<br />
Before answering that question, let's look briefly at the tangled web of <a href="http://www.mediaowners.com/">news media ownership</a>. Many people and organizations, such as <a href="http://www.freepress.net/ownership/chart/main">Free Press</a>, are concerned the vast majority of our news media outlets ultimately are <a href="http://www.corporations.org/media/">owned by six mega-corporations</a>, listed in order of 2009 reported revenues: <a href="http://www.ge.com/">General Electric,</a> which founded NBC TV and still owns a large share of the company; <a href="http://corporate.disney.go.com/">Walt Disney Company</a>, which owns ESPN and ABC TV; <a href="http://www.newscorp.com/">News Corporation</a>, which owns FOX Broadcasting Company and the <i>Wall Street Journal</i>; <a href="http://www.timewarner.com/">Time Warner</a>, which owns CNN and <i>Time</i> magazine; <a href="http://www.viacom.com/">Viacom</a>, which owns MTV and Nickelodeon (don't discount either as news sources); and <a href="http://www.cbscorporation.com/">CBS Corporation</a>, which owns CBS TV. Many of the major book publishers are owned by these corporations, as well.<br />
<br />
Even smaller weekly papers and local radio and television stations may be owned by conglomerates. And just because an outlet lists Company UVW as owner, that doesn't mean that Company UVW isn't itself owned by Conglomerate XYZ. Broadcast news outlet CNN, for instance, is owned by Turner Broadcasting System, which is a Time Warner company.<br />
<br />
The main concern is the obvious conflict of interest involved when a non-news media parent corporation owns a news media outlet and other non-news media businesses.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www2.mssu.edu/International/africa/hachten.htm">Dr. William A. Hatchen</a> noted in his 2005 book, <i>The Troubles of Journalism,</i> "Communications companies in recent years have ingested many news organizations, yet these same companies are involved in lobbying government and seeking government favors. In a recent election campaign, the communications industry was the sixth largest contributor to candidates, giving almost $10 million to political action committees" (62-63).<br />
<br />
One not-so-subtle manifestation of this tangled web can be seen at the end of many local newscasts, when local anchors report on the latest <i>Dancing with the Star</i>s, <i>American Idol</i>, or <i>Survivor</i> developments. A generation or two ago, this would have been anathema in the world of news journalism. Today, these infomercials for the entertainment industry blend so smoothly into the evening news that most people don't think twice about their presence.<br />
<br />
What about news outlets such as <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/aboutthebbc/running/">BBC</a>, <a href="http://www.cpb.org/">PBS</a> and <a href="http://www.npr.org/about/aboutnpr/publicradiofinances.html">NPR</a>? There is potential for conflict there, too. After all, when the BBC operates under the terms of a Royal Charter and when NPR and PBS receive even a small portion of their funding from the government, it could be argued there is an implicit political threat to the continued existence and/or impartiality of these outlets.<br />
<br />
With that cautionary caveat, stay tuned for Part Two to learn what's In and what's Out for this particular exploration of second-tier media and education policy.<br />
<br />
<b><br />
</b>Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16437664516123030421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7552792926021471128.post-90757773306421052402011-05-23T17:03:00.002-04:002011-05-23T18:26:32.996-04:00Second-Tier Busine$$ $trategie$Click on the title above to listen to the podcast or scan the text below.<br />
<br />
Listen or read. It's up to you. We aim to please. :-)<br />
<div><br />
</div><div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">S</span>ay 'news media' and most people think of the biggies: <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/"><i><span style="color: #001ee6;">New York Times</span></i></a>, <a href="http://online.wsj.com/home-page"><i><span style="color: #001ee6;">Wall Street Journal</span></i></a>, <a href="http://www.cnn.com/"><span style="color: #001ee6;">CNN</span></a>, etc. People living in the Tampa Bay area of Florida might think of the <a href="http://www.sptimes.com/"><i><span style="color: #001ee6;">St. Petersburg Times</span></i></a>, the <a href="http://www.tbo.com/"><i><span style="color: #001ee6;">Tampa Tribune</span></i></a>, and various local television stations.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">But those news media organizations are only the tip of the proverbial iceberg.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Floating just under the surface of instant name-recognition status are a larger mass of smaller news outlets, ones we might call second-tier organizations.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">Second-tier is one of those eye-of-the-beholder kind of terms that gets bandied about casually and expands or shrinks to fit the moment. Second-tier doesn’t necessarily mean second-rate. In fact, second-tier thinking in the business world, however, can prove quite profitable. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><a href="http://finapps.forbes.com/finapps/BuyHoldSellAnalysis.do?tkr=cvh">Forbes.org,</a> for instance, noted in a May 23, 2011, posting that Bethesda, Maryland, based Coventry Health Care, Inc. uses a “growth by acquisition strategy” that “targets small, local health plans in second-tier markets, where it can leverage its four regional service centers and improve operating efficiencies, largely through economies of scale.” <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">Apparently Coventry’s strategy works. Forbes noted that Coventry “reported net income of 150.3 million … in the fourth quarter” up from “109.1 million in the prior year period.”<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">The World Bank noted in its report <em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Global Development Horizons 2011—Multipolarity: The New Global Economy</span></em><em><span style="font-family: Times; font-style: normal;"> t</span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">hat</span></span></em><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></em><em><span style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">one category of so-called second-tier companies, emerging-market companies, are</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><a href="http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/EXTDEC/EXTDECPROSPECTS/EXTGDH/0,,contentMDK:22915319~menuPK:7935801~pagePK:64167689~piPK:64167673~theSitePK:7933464,00.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">“becoming powerful forces and agents of change in the global industrial and financial landscape</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">.”</span></span></em><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">Danny Ng, writing in the July/August 2010 issue of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">China Brief</i>, noted that while China’s second-tier cities—numbers four through nineteen in terms of population—“account for roughly six percent of China’s population…they contribute about half of the country’s total foreign direct investment.” Foreign direct investment refers to other companies from other countries coming in and building a manufacturing or other facility in the host country. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">What makes second-tier markets attractive? Ng says the second-tier cities often have governments that are actively pursuing foreign investors and offer comparatively lower operational costs than larger cities but still have large potential labor pools and markets. They may also offer a less competitive atmosphere—especially for foreign banks—than the larger cities, where the market is often saturated. Finally, because consumers in second-tier cities tend to expect less, they are an easier audience to cater to. But that doesn’t mean this is not a lucrative market. Ng noted that “The demand for luxury products is so hig in some second-tier cities that it is outpacing demand in their first-tier counterparts” (p. 10).<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Locally, <a href="http://www.fly2pie.com/">St. Petersburg-Clearwater Airport</a>, generally considered a secondary airport compared to <a href="http://www.tampaairport.com/">Tampa International Airport</a>, has carved out a niche in the travel industry by attracting secondary airlines, such as <a href="http://www.allegiantair.com/">Allegiant Airlines</a>, that fly to other secondary airports. Not everyone wants to fly to Memphis, but enough people want to fly from here to the <a href="http://www.triflight.com/?id=5">Tri-City area</a> on the Johnson City, Tenn., side of the Smokies to make it a regular run. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Sometimes it pays to think smaller.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">And in the media world?<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Stay tuned.<o:p></o:p></div></div>Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16437664516123030421noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7552792926021471128.post-41378379745334270592011-05-20T08:59:00.000-04:002011-05-20T10:17:00.232-04:00Second-Tier? Says Who?!<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Second-tier is one of those eye-of-the-beholder kind of terms that gets bandied about casually and expands or shrinks to fit the moment. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">For almost three decades, U. S. News & World Report has ranked colleges and universities, and their various programs, </span><a href="http://www.collegeconfidential.com/college_search/second_tier.htm"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">using a four-tier system</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">. The top 50 were in the first tier, numbers 51-100 were in the second tier, and the colleges in the third and fourth tiers were listed alphabetically. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">This year, </span><a href="http://www.usnews.com/education/best-graduate-schools/articles/2011/03/14/how-us-news-calculated-the-2012-graduate-school-rankings"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">USNWR changed the system for ranking law school</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">s and increased the number of "</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 22px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">numerically ranked institutions from the top 100 to the top three-quarters of the schools. The remaining schools are listed alphabetically as the second tier" (¶ 7). Some people might argue that renaming what previously was the fourth tier and calling it second tier sounds a bit like grade inflation. Be that as it may, the change illustrates the subjectiveness of the term.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 22px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">By contrast, </span><a href="http://www.richardspens.com/?page=ref/glossary/S.htm"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Richard Binder Fountain Pens </span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> gives a fairly explicit definition, in their multi-page glossary, of what constitutes a second-tier fountain pen (who knew?!) and even lists the companies producing such pens. Of course, when one rates anything -- no matter how explicitly -- one invites opposing voices, as evidenced in the "First Tier Companies and their Second Tier Pens" discussion forum on </span><a href="http://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php?/topic/747-first-tier-companies-and-their-second-tier-pens/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The Fountain Pen Network</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">'s Web site.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 22px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Second-tier thinking in the business world, however, can prove quite profitable. </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 22px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Examples? </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 22px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Stay tuned.</span></span>Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16437664516123030421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7552792926021471128.post-70129137336542479002011-05-10T23:41:00.000-04:002011-05-11T12:33:58.777-04:00Second-Tier News Media and Education Policy DiscussionsSay 'news media' and most people think of the biggies: <i><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/">New York Times</a></i>, <i><a href="http://online.wsj.com/home-page">Wall Street Journal</a></i>, <a href="http://www.cnn.com/">CNN</a>, etc. People living in the Tampa Bay area of Florida might think of the <i><a href="http://www.sptimes.com/">St. Petersburg Times</a></i>, the <i><a href="http://www.tbo.com/">Tampa Tribune</a></i>, and various local television stations.<br />
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But those news media organizations are only the tip of the proverbial iceberg.<br />
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Floating just under the surface of instant name-recognition status are a larger mass of smaller news outlets. Some of them are owned by the same companies that own the biggies. <a href="http://www.tbnweekly.com/">Tampa Bay Newspapers,</a> for instance, which publishes several weekly newspapers covering mid-Pinellas County, is owned by Times Publishing Co. Others, like <i><a href="http://www.creativeloafing.com/">Creative Loafing</a></i>, cater to other types of audiences.<br />
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Still others are not official news outlets at all, but they still serve to disseminate information and to provide a forum for discussion. Often, these types of sources, such as <i><a href="http://saintpetersblog.com/">Saint Petersblog</a>,</i> are online blogs.<br />
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Then there is a third type of news source that studies news in general, such as <a href="http://Poynter.org/">Poynter.org</a>, or that comments on news coverage about a particular topic. <a href="http://mediabullpen.com/">The Media Bullpen</a>, operated by <a href="http://edreform.org/Home/">The Center for Education Reform,</a> critiques education coverage by media around the nation. Poynter.org, by the way, is produced by the Poynter Institute for Media Studies, which owns Times Publishing Co., which owns the <i>St. Petersburg Times</i> and Tampa Bay Newspapers and a few other publications.<br />
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And who funds and runs The Center for Education Reform?<br />
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Good question.<br />
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That and other questions about the role second-tier news media outlets play in discussions about education policy will be the topic of the next few postings -- with maybe a random post or two thrown in for good measure.<br />
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Stay tuned.Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16437664516123030421noreply@blogger.com3