Stossel presented skewed 20/20 segment on "stupid" public schools
Summary: ABC's John Stossel presented a "special report" on the failure of American public schools that included a series of misleading claims, a lack of balance in reporting and interviews, and video clips apparently created primarily for entertainment to argue for expanding "school choice" initiatives such as vouchers and charter schools.
On the January 13 broadcast of ABC's 20/20, host John Stossel presented an hour-long "special report" on the purported failures of public schools in the United States. Titled "Stupid in America: How We Cheat Our Kids," the report tilted heavily in favor of those who advocate for expanding such "school choice" initiatives as voucher and charter school programs, ostensibly as the means for increasing academic achievement.
Through a series of misleading claims, a lack of balance in reporting and interviews, and video clips apparently created primarily for entertainment, Stossel's report failed to offer viewers an accurate picture of the debate over charter schools and voucher programs, and gave significantly greater coverage to the arguments of "school choice" proponents, with Stossel frequently criticizing public schools. At one point, the reporter warned, "Most Americans don't know what stupid schools are doing to American kids."
School voucher programs, such as those highlighted by Stossel, allow parents to withdraw their children from public schools and enroll them in private schools with the help of vouchers for a set amount of public funding that is then transferred to the private school. Such programs are usually promoted under the rubric of "school choice." According to edweek.org, the website of Editorial Projects in Education (publisher of Education Week and Teacher Magazine): "At its most basic and uncontroversial, school choice is a reform movement focused on affording parents the right to choose which school their child attends." In recent years, with the advent of school voucher programs and charter schools, the issue of "school choice" has become more contentious. According to the ERIC Digest, proponents of school choice incentives such as vouchers argue that, among other things, the resulting "increased competition from voucher schools will force public schools to improve, or risk closure"; opponents worry that such school choice initiatives will "drain money from public schools, cull the most highly motivated students and parents, violate church-state separation, be costly to administer, and raise property taxes."
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http://mediamatters.org/items/200601200003
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