In the relative short existence of LouisianaVoice, we have deliberately avoided antagonizing the so-called mainstream media. First of all, we really don’t even like that term and second, we saw no reason to go out of our way to make additional enemies now that we have been removed from Gov. Jindal and John White’s Christmas card lists.
But today’s (Jan. 15) shameless publication—without proper vetting—of what obviously was a verbatim press release either from Jindal or White’s offices, perhaps both, does a serious disservice to The Advocate’s credibility and is nothing less than an insult to its readers’ intelligence.
The nine-paragraph story, credited to the Capitol News Bureau, is nothing more than a puff piece extolling Louisiana for having the best “policy environments” (whatever that may be) for improving public schools. http://theadvocate.com/home/4857391-125/studentsfirst-group-rates-louisiana-education
While the story does attribute the report to an outfit calling itself StudentsFirst and while it did mention in passing that StudentsFirst is headed by Michelle Rhee, it was woefully inadequate in explaining what—and who—StudentsFirst and Michelle Rhee are.
A maximum of five to 10 minutes of research would have shone a glaring light on both that would have gone far in putting this hoax of a story into its proper perspective.
We feel The Advocate owed that much to its readers.
And it failed. Miserably.
If you think we are feeling smug about this, think again. Investigative reporting, in our simplistic definition, simply means telling the full story. We are truly saddened to see a publication fail so glaringly in its duty to inform fully.
StudentsFirst has poured funds into the campaigns of Board of Elementary and Secondary Education candidates but more important, Rhee was forced out as head of the Washington, D.C. school system in 2010 after reports of widespread cheating on standardized testing surfaced. The episode turned into one of the biggest student test score cheating scandals in the nation and was the subject of a Frontline story on LPB on Jan 8, 2013.
We first reported on this organization and its leader on that date almost exactly a year ago at https://louisianavoice.com/2013/01/08/1st-in-education-reform-%CF%80-yush-john-white-release-glowing-report-from-michelle-rhees-less-than-credible-studentsfirst/ and at https://louisianavoice.com/2013/01/13/%CF%80-yush-white-hawk-yet-another-national-study-lauding-la-education-reform-oops-part-of-study-gives-state-an-f-grade/
Our friend Jason France over at the Crazy Crawfish blog also called out Jindal and White on the (forgive the bad pun) whitewash. http://crazycrawfish.wordpress.com/2013/01/08/1013/
At the time, we commented that we were “being asked to believe Jindal and White when they regurgitate a highly suspect report churned out by Michelle Rhee.”
Some things, apparently never change and now the State Capital’s daily newspaper is allowing itself to be used in such a sordid, unabashed manner.
Shameless. Shameless and sad.
And now, a few hours after first writing this post, we learn that the Lafayette Advertiser ran essentially the same self-serving press release—with no questions asked. The Advertiser even included quotes from Jindal meant to give us all that warm fuzzy feeling. http://www.theadvertiser.com/article/20140114/NEWS01/301140013/Louisiana-ranks-first-nation-education-reforms
At least Washington Post writer Valerie Strauss did a little digging and debunked Rhee and her report, saying that the report “has no solid evidence to back it up” and that The report card “wouldn’t be worth mentioning, except that she (Rhee) remains a force in the public education debate and is able to attract major money from private donors.” Strauss also noted that the fact that criteria used in arriving at the grades are not a factor in improving student achievement “doesn’t seem to matter.”
Good to know there are still a few real reporters out there.
Louisiana Voice 
Well done, my friend! Would that anyone at that (alleged) newspaper would read your comments and understand the depth of what those two men are doing to the future of this state.
Thank you Tom! You are a brave man.
Tammie McDaniel
Hey Advocate:
Want to build a publishing empire? It takes stones.
Want to operate a celebrity tabloid? The reincarnation of Grit newspaper? Aspire to be a mouthpiece for the Jindal administration? Then continue to keep your sails furled.
An underlying great American tragedgy accompanies this report: the death of newspapers and all the dying industry represents. Loss of creditability is as symptomatic as a loss of blood–and the final coroner report will show a slit-throat suicide. Northeast Louisiana is as involved in the dying dance as its regional daily offers by-lined space to Baton Rouge officials in its Sunday editions–no questions asked or implied. Even more discouraging, letters to editors in subsequent editions never question those ghost-written news articles–reflecting a degree of public apathy created by generations of state politicians who sing the same songs. Thanks for thought-provoking work.
The Governor must have let word slip that as 2016 nears, he’ll be reincarnating parties and cocktail hours at the Mansion.
I’m picking up that there is a special program at Wade Correctional Center in Claiborne Parish to train bartenders. They will be commuting to and from Baton Rouge via blacked out bus two shifts at a time so as not to be overly exposed to Jindal’s guests.
The bus is already nearing completion having been outfitted with six toilets so the mansion’s occupants and visitors will have no worry about possible transmission of social diseases from the prisoners.
As a guest on the Jim Engster Show a couple of months ago, education expert Noel Hammatt stated he asked the editorial board of the Baton Rouge ADVOCATE why they did not do more balanced reporting on the current educational reform efforts, I. e., why the downsides were rarely, if ever, reported. He said their answer was that, as an editorial policy, The Advocate supports Governor Jindal’s education reform efforts. The implications of that are obvious. Accepting a press release from a controversial and biased source and reporting it as news takes this even further.
The 4th estate is dead. We must now choose who in the 5th estate we consider credible. We are very fortunate to have Louisiana Voice, Something Like the Truth, and Forgotston.com as a balance to what we read in our newspapers and see on television news.
P, S, Mr. Hammatt, if I have mischaracterized your statements on the Engster show, please correct me.
Thank you for having and using the guts it must have taken to go forward with this story. In the current rabid, punitive political and social environment, I am becoming voice-shy. I am embarrassed by that, and I appreciate that you use yours.
I had the same thoughts when I read that Advocate article. I wondered if it was pure laziness or willful disregard for any and all facts? Gotta give it to the Advocate, they will cling to the side of a sinking ship until the very end, but their complete inability to provide objective or investigative reporting is seriously undermining their credibility. Makes me glad I don’t pay to read that rag.
Rhee is basically a pathological liar. It has been noted and evidenced numerous times that she misrepresented her effectiveness in the classroom as a 5-week wonder TFA corps member and lied about her students’ gains. She used those lies as stepping stones to create the spin-off New Teacher Project and launch herself into the D.C. schools chancellor job.
Her tactics in that position contributed to the downfall of her friend, the mayor, as it is widely accepted that voters were rejecting Rhee as much as they were rejecting him. The new mayor quickly disassociated himself with her, and she left to “pursue other opportunities.”
Even John Merrow at Frontline has apologized for his initial championing of Rhee, and has done several telling stories since then that detail the D.C. cheating scandal and cover-up. Since her departure from D.C., the district hasn’t been able to sustain those initial gains…hmmm.
If you follow her story at all, you’ll see that StudentsFirst is nothing but a lobbying group to promote Rhee’s ideas to all-too-willing legislators/lawmakers who take her money and push through her “rheeforms” without bothering to think about the long-term consequences. Her group has contributed millions to “rheeform” candidates in states like Connecticut, Tennessee, California as well as Louisiana. She’s good at lining her own pockets, too, which was all any of this was ever about.
I would posit that Rhee and her “rheeforms” have done more to harm public education in the last 5-6 years than any other force. So, the fact that LA is at the top of her list is definitely nothing to brag about. Her punitive ideology has been replicated all over the country, and there has been no evidence that it has had a positive effect on improving education. She has, in fact, become the “status quo” she likes to pretend she is fighting against – and people are starting to figure out the emperor has no clothes!
I do remember a time, before the new ownership, when The Advocate did a fair amount of investigative journalism, and their op-eds were well-worth reading. No more. For investigative writing…we have to now go to the political blogs and websites. When even your front-page is mostly feel-good pablum, you’ve lost your edge. The Advocate: Where’s that edge you once had? Where’s the investigative journalism? Where’s my subscription going once it runs its course? Guess.