Anyone who was wondering if the media would hold leaders like @rweingarten @BeckyPringle accountable for their role in creating the teacher fears about school reopening gets a Hard No in this piece from @DanaGoldstein.

That’s not the only issue, mind you. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/08/us/schools-reopening-teachers-unions.amp.html

I’m old enough to remember that last September, Weingarten was sharing discredited studies to stoke fear about kids and COVID, and Pringle was grossly exaggerating the risks with baseless figures.

As @AlecMacGillis reported:
https://www.propublica.org/article/the-students-left-behind-by-remote-learning

There’s plenty more of that.

Now we get a piece on how Weingarten can be the savior who talks teachers off the ledge... without mentioning that her work was core to putting them there in the first place. Mmmkay.

Not how accountability journalism works in my book, but it fits the 2020 NYT pattern. @jimdao

Let’s not forget that Weingarten did not begin making public statements in support of reopening until November 29th.

I agree with Weingarten’s current sense that her voice is powerful, and could influence teachers.

Unexplored by @DanaGoldstein: what took her so long to use it? https://twitter.com/davidzweig/status/1333422335370555395

I think we can see what took her so long as we see the outlines of a bill that is long on teacher job creation / protection.

Only $9.5B of $145B is for non-staff mitigation investment.

So, there’s the Why. Funding negotiations also not noted by @DanaGoldstein.

@jimdao https://twitter.com/dannydcarlson/status/1357687292505300998

It’s just insane to me to write a piece suggesting (accurately) that Weingarten can be the Teacher Whisperer and help alleviate teacher concerns without reflecting critically on any of the material details above.

It takes this down to the level of puff piece.

We do see @DanaGoldstein note the reluctance of Dems to name unions as a factor in school closures.

“Mr. Biden and his surrogates have shown little willingness to speak forthrightly about union recalcitrance.”

Why do we get so little reflection on the shared media tendencies?

Until 2021, we saw media reluctance to even name unions as a factor in the debate. They were like Voldemort for Ed reporters. @alexanderrusso and plenty of others noted it.

So, how are public perspectives on unions to shift if the coverage is fawning (this piece) & avoidant?

There’s also a funny commingling of attitudes about teachers and about unions. I agree that attitudes about teachers have not shifted much, for reasons Goldstein notes. Yet attitudes about districts leaders & unions are shifting, I feel sure of it. Not sure the commingling helps.

Back to other issues with the piece:

We get the most interesting tell from @DanaGoldstein about the NYT attitude on parent protesters: they are in affluent areas, and a small group of “media-savvy parents.”

Note to Dana, Willie from the South Side doesn’t fit the narrative: https://twitter.com/karenvaites/status/1355963715204603906