Second-Tier News Media and Education Policy Discussions

Say 'news media' and most people think of the biggies: New York Times, Wall Street Journal, CNN, etc. People living in the Tampa Bay area of Florida might think of the St. Petersburg Times, the Tampa Tribune, and various local television stations.

But those news media organizations are only the tip of the proverbial iceberg.

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. Tampa Bay Newspapers, for instance, which publishes several weekly newspapers covering mid-Pinellas County, is owned by Times Publishing Co. Others, like Creative Loafing, cater to other types of audiences.

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 Saint Petersblog, are online blogs.

Then there is a third type of news source that studies news in general, such as Poynter.org, or that comments on news coverage about a particular topic. The Media Bullpen, operated by The Center for Education Reform, 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 St. Petersburg Times and Tampa Bay Newspapers and a few other publications.

And who funds and runs The Center for Education Reform?

Good question.

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.

Stay tuned.