Over my 16 years as a superintendent, I’ve witnessed the often pernicious influence of big media on public schools.  What you’re about to read is not connected to any specific event past or present but is a long term observation: 

On the one hand, the news media is constantly reminding public and private institutions of the public’s right to know, demanding every gossipy and salacious tidbit.  Television stations puff the gossiper or accuser who makes unsubstantiated claims while condemning any school’s simultaneous need to protect the privacy of students and staff.  They are the first to shout “Cover up!” when anyone refuses to cooperate.  Newspapers and TV pundits simultaneously offer shrill warnings of grave consequences to free speech if any legislator attempts to place reasonable restraints on media excesses.  And with more than a little self-interest, they label “censorship” school actions to keep soft porn and over the top violence from kids while their media publishing and marketing arms shout “Amen!” 

On the other hand, the media portray themselves as noble saints when refusing to reveal THEIR sources or notes.   When a murderer or his accomplice reveals crime to a journalist, editors tell us it is courageous and self-sacrificial to protect that source even, if the murderer will go free.  When the New York Times prints secret U.S. war plans, we’re told it is a noble and necessary public service, not a treasonous way to make money.  Local news outlets ape those tactics when an anonymous source falsely indicts a school teacher or student – or when a school district tries to protect even the birth dates of its employees. 

If the media must protect truthful sources to ensure that whistleblowers aren’t intimidated – then they should also protect institutions and individuals from false claims by naming the perpetrators.  The malicious source ought to be held to the same standard as the falsely accused victim.  Instead, the media tells us that revealing the accusers will have a chilling effect on real truth tellers. 

The mass media empire is actually guarding its own ability to preserve power and make money from controversy it creates or ignites.  They pander to the worst human frailties, deliberately mislabeling the consumer’s appetite for vice and gossip as “the people’s right to know”. During sweeps week, the blow-dried anchor wrings his hands on cue over graphic details and salacious hearsay while behind the set, the producers are counting the cash. 

On this Earth, the less powerful are often forced to kneel before their oppressors.  Thus it is revealing when ambitious politicians or celebrities move quickly from their own failed elections or indiscretions to prostrate themselves before the media – asking for forgiveness or the chance to host a news program.  Ambition says, “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.”  Failed politicians parlay election defeat into a CNN job.  Body building movie stars become governors in two states. Jerry Springer and Al Franken move from trash talking TV shows to media-fed candidacy for the U.S. Senate. 

All who prostrate themselves realize that to an insatiable media market, controversy sells.  The newly crowned celebrity feeds the media monster hoping it will reciprocate with air time unavailable to anyone other than the extremely wealthy.  But the monster just bides its time, eating its young by bestowing celebrity first, then disgrace.  Ask Britney Spears – or friends of Heath Ledger.  Both the rise and the fall produce media cash. 

Big Media defends their right to do as they please by pointing to Orwell’s “1984” in which an unchecked government spews propaganda.  Yet in 2008, it is the unchecked corporate media “thought police” who deceive us.  Perhaps the better Orwellian comparison is illustrated by the pigs in “Animal Farm.”  The media see themselves as “more equal than others,” serving as kingmakers, raising up slavish flatterers, spattering mud on any who dare dissent, and claiming immunity from consequences for any excesses.  They are now the oppressor, not the oppressed. 

The news media can be compared to the snake-like mechanical monster in Spielberg’s “War of the Worlds.”  Undulating its way through people’s houses with a large camera lens in its head, the media probes for victims to devour.  School districts often get a “fishing expedition” information probe from one of the local TV stations.  Sometimes their producers are hunting negative stories; other times “following up” on some malicious anonymous complaint aimed at some school employee or practice.  Most often for school districts, it is impossible to disprove the negative.  When the school is able to disprove the accusation, there is palpable disappointment from the reporter – and a refusal to identify the malignant source.  But this doesn’t mean the story will be set aside. 

I’ve become quite good at predicting what will be aired by asking myself:  Can they make it appear sensational or lurid?  Can they portray a malicious source as “someone whose voice isn’t being heard”? 

With this kind of unethical approach, school districts and private citizens are always one slow news day away from media manufactured anger and confusion.