Findings
  • Finding 1→
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    Teachers and parents believe that media coverage affects teachers.
  • Finding 2→
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    Newspapers rarely discussed teachers in depth or included teachers’ voices.
  • Finding 3→
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    Newspapers covered non-academic factors that affect learning more than any other topic.
  • Finding 4→
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    National newspapers started covering evaluation less and quoting teachers more around 2015.
  • Finding 5→
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    Both local and national newspapers most often portrayed teachers engaged in the work of teaching. National newspapers more often portrayed teachers being evaluated than local newspapers did.
  • Finding 6→
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    Depictions of teachers being evaluated in national newspapers began declining after 2015, while depictions of professional development and compensation began increasing.
  • Finding 7→
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    In the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, depictions of teachers changed more in national newspapers than in local newspapers.
  • Finding 8→
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    From 2009 to 2020, newspapers rarely depicted teacher shortages, lack of classroom resources, or lack of diversity in the profession.
  • Finding 9→
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    Depictions of teachers involved in illegal activity were rare, but spiked modestly in certain years.
  • Finding 10→
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    Teachers believe it is important for the news media to cover student poverty, lack of classroom resources, and teacher shortages.
Summary of Findings→
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Implications Interviews Methodology
Findings
Summary of Findings→
Implications Interviews Methodology

EXPLORE THE FINDINGS

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finding 9 of 10

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finding-09-hero

From 2009 to 2020, few local or national newspaper articles that mentioned teachers portrayed them as accused of or engaged in illegal activities such as sexual misconduct, violence, drug use, cheating on evaluations, or financial misconduct. But those portrayals spiked modestly in national newspapers in 2012 during a sexual misconduct trial in Los Angeles and again in 2016; they spiked in 2013 and 2016 in local newspapers.

Spikes in portrayals of teachers involved in illegal activity

Tooltip

Changes in one portrayal of teachers in news articles about K-12 education in the U.S. that mention teachers twice or more, 2009 to 2020.

National newspapers rarely portrayed #teachers accused of illegal activity, but those portrayals spiked modestly in 2012 and 2016, according to @publicagenda research.

National newspapers rarely portrayed #teachers accused of illegal activity, but those portrayals spiked modestly in 2012 and 2016, according to @publicagenda research. Click To Tweet Tweet This