Education Media Watchdog Site Launches
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
By: Jeanne Allen

Education is no longer a spectator sport

Feb. 14, 2011

Washington, DC -- Launched this week, the goal of the Media Bullpen (http://mediabullpen.com), the first issue-specific media watchdog site, is to bring accountability to education reporting.

"The problem with education is not that it's under-reported; the larger issue is that all too often, it's not being accurately reported," said Jeanne Allen, one of the nation's leading experts on K-12 education reform and Media Bullpen Publisher.

Allen believes that balance, context, sound data, and institutional knowledge of complex issues are often missing from education reporting. "A comprehensive approach and a system-wide look at how these critical issues are being reported are long overdue. We're happy to jumpstart the effort by introducing Media Bullpen, a first-of-its-kind virtual newsroom. The future of the nation depends on education and education depends on it being reported properly. That's the only way administrators, policy makers and most importantly the parents and taxpayers can best be armed to make the right choices and decisions."

Media Bullpen will provide a critical eye to help the public better understand the issues being reported. On any given day, there can be many as 1,000 stories that move in print, online or broadcast, that touch on K-12 education. The Bullpen reporters -- the umpires -- will react and respond in real time to the news stories as they move, whether the original coverage is of a local, state or national K-12 issue.

Bullpen reporters score stories using the metaphors from America's favorite pastime, baseball. Articles are given strike outs, pop flys, singles, doubles, triples and home runs, reflecting a particular story's objectivity, proper context, its exploration of data and accuracy. Over time, readers will see 'batting averages' for news outlets.

"This is a nationwide, grassroots effort," said Allen. "We aim to grow and activate a large community and to get them more involved in the great discussions the nation is having on how we educate our next generations. Media Bullpen literally allows anyone and everyone to participate in how the issues are being reported. Education is no longer a spectator sport. It's time for everyone to suit up and get in the game."

Executive Editor Donna Sapolin brings years of journalism experience to the Bullpen and helms the site's editorial leadership team.

"Our mission is to manage the Media Bullpen like a newsroom and bring a high degree of journalistic objectivity to our coverage of the reporting," she said. "Objectivity is how we will be judged. We demand objectivity from the media we'll be covering and we demand that from our editorial staff as well. We have no litmus tests in our hiring of the editorial team." Sapolin will manage a team of up to twelve editors that will be assigned stories throughout the day as they filter into the newsroom by way of Cision's monitoring services.

Managing Editor, Ben Tyree, a veteran of Washington, DC newsrooms, believes that a non-ideological approach is best for the Bullpen. "The editors come from diverse backgrounds and none were recruited from the education establishment. We value their skills as keen media consumers and critical thinkers more than anything else. We insist that ideologies and biases be checked at the door. We don't score on the vast array of controversial K-12 issues per se; we score on the media's accuracy and objectivity in covering them. If there is clarity in education reporting, the issues themselves can then be fairly and honestly debated."

Augmented with social media widgets and applications, readers will be able to share stories with their networks of friends, family, school administrators and elected officials. Readers also have the opportunity to become part of the team they are encouraged to share stories that surface in their local media and act as Bullpen stringers. Readers are also encouraged to follow the Bullpen's updates on Twitter @mediabullpen and on Facebook (http://on.fb.me/mediabullpen).

Media Bullpen is an entirely separate, editorially independent creation of the Center for Education Reform (http://www.edreform.com), and the strategic evolution of its pioneering and well-known media relations and news monitoring work. Since 1993, CER has not only amassed a credible portfolio of more than 1-billion media impressions, but is widely recognized as a leading organization at the vanguard of improving American education.

Known for creating opportunities to empower and energize ordinary citizens and engage and educate those who manage education, legislate it and write about it, CER's programs and award winning web site have served seven million patrons each year. The Media Bullpen is supported by the same diverse group of citizens and organizations that have invested over $26 million in CER since its founding.

Contact:

Craig Brownstein

202.326.1799

craig.brownstein@edelman.com