State of the Education Beat 2016: A Field With A Future

Overview & Synopsis

Education journalists have the critically important task of informing the public about education at the local, state, and national levels. Little is known however about this sector of the news media. What does this workforce look like? Do education journalists believe their work matters? Are they satisfied in their jobs? What challenges does the field face to better informing public dialogue on education? Last fall, the Education Writers Association (EWA) teamed up with the Education Week Research Center to answer these and other questions in a first-of-its-kind online national survey and follow-up interviews. The result is this report, "State of the Education Beat 2016." The report offers comprehensive new data that provides the field with important baseline information. The findings can be used to inform decisions about resources devoted to the education beat, and for assessments by media outlets of how they cover--or do not cover--education. This report also tells a compelling story, and a hopeful one. Two-thirds of respondents say education journalism is going in the right direction at their news outlets. A majority hold that view of the field as a whole. The report challenges the widely accepted narrative that education is a steppingstone beat with negligible prestige. Two messages in particular stand out: Education journalists want more time for in-depth coverage and colleagues with more education expertise.