I hate to be the one who spreads rumors, but this one is true: Media in small towns, rural districts, and major cities across this county cover dark money in K-12 politics. It happens. Just not in Boston. Selectively, even the Globe has done it! The paper has revealed in editorials or op-eds that Citizens…
Category: Boston Globe
It’s True. The Globe Sports Page Really Does Provide Better Coverage of Sports than the Globe Does of K-12 Education Interests
I dragged myself down this rabbit hole by responding to a Globe story titled MCAS ballot question pits Massachusetts Association against business community – again. As a critique I wrote Why Is the Boston Globe’s Sports Coverage So Much Better Than Its K-12 Interest Group Coverage? It’s true. You can regularly see Globe sports reporters…
2024 Ballot Questions: Capital v. Labor
The Boston Globe recently framed the possible MCAS ballot question as a contest between the “Boston business community” and the Massachusetts Teachers Association. A better frame would be “capital v. labor”–which applies to additional ballot questions this year as well. First, some housekeeping: I’ve recently been writing about coverage of billionaire-funded K-12 interest groups and…
My Letter to the Boston Globe re K-12 Political Coverage
On March 14, 2024, I wrote to several Boston Globe editors and reporters concerning the Globe’s coverage of K-12 interest groups in Massachusetts. I have received no response. The letter is below, I will list addressees and another note after the letter. I hope you will also read Banned in Boston: Coverage of Walton Family…
Banned in Boston Globe: Coverage of Barr Foundation’s K-12 Interest Group Spending
As I wrote yesterday in Latest on the Barr Foundation K-12 Interest Group Team, 2022, from 2017-2022 the Barr Foundation spent over $14,000,000 to support K-12 interest groups in Massachusetts. The twist is, Barr also helps fund the Globe’s K-12 interest group coverage. So, we have the unique situation in which Barr funds K-12 interest…
Latest on The Barr Foundation K-12 Interest Group Team, 2022
Billionaires pour millions of dollars into K-12 interest groups in Massachusetts with almost no public accountability. The interests have upbeat sounding names like “Democrats for Education Reform,” “Educators for Excellence,” and “National Parents Union” but make no mistake, they exist to promote the policy preferences of oligarchs. The public deserves a full accounting of who…
Banned in Boston: Coverage of Walton Family Spending on K-12 Interest Groups, 2022 Edition
“So far as I can tell, in a period in which the Waltons poured more than $10,000,000 into K-12 interest groups in Massachusetts, no Boston Globe staffer has ever reported that fact.” In Just Giving: Why Philanthropy Is Failing Democracy and How It Can Do Better, Professor Rob Reich argues that “Big philanthropy is often…
Why Is The Boston Globe’s Sports Coverage So Much Better Than Its K-12 Political Coverage?
When we read an article in the Boston Globe sports page about the Boston Red Sox, we frequently see a critique not just of the performers on the field but also of manager Alex Cora, the coaches, team president Craig Breslow, the geeks in “baseball ops,” the minor league staff, and owner John Henry, who…
What the Globe Left Out of “MTA Exerts More Power”
The Boston Globe is messing with my Golden Years and I don’t appreciate it one bit. I really want just want to play some Sudoko and rest up for the blue plate special but then the Globe goes and prints something like MTA exerts more power amid a wave of teacher strikes, generating praise and…
Banned in Boston (Globe) II: the Barr Foundation/Hostetter 2021 Political Team
Last year I published The Barr Foundation-Hostetter Political Team to set out non-profit advocacy spending by the foundation of Boston billionaire Amos Hostetter through 2020, then the most recent data available. Today I’m updating that with donations through 2021 and the addition of some additional advocacy groups. And no, uh-uh, fuhgeddabouditt, no way will you…