Not To Put Too Fine a Point On It But...

Update:

Re: the Seattle Times. I did exchange e-mails with a member of the Editorial Board.  That person maintains that those "ads" are not part of their editorial thought.

However, when media entities do not explain relationships between those they support and information they provide - including ads that include that entity - then it's bound to cause confusion.   The Times has a direct relationship with the Education Research Institute and that would seem to indicate they support the tone and purpose of ERI's work which, currently, looks like a full-time job attacking Seattle Public Schools.  To what end?  Why not other districts like Kent or Highline?

I maintain that the Times truly does want the GOP spending plan, which includes funding McCleary.  It's hard to not believe that given the sources they cite in their policy and research reporting on public education.

Re: KUOW.  I did exchange e-mails with an editor there.

To note, they did update their Local Wonder piece on philanthropy to include that the submitter of the question, Anne Martens, works for the Gates Foundation.  Then, they clarified it even further saying,


As a communications officer at the Gates Foundation, Local Wonder listener Anne Martens knows a lot about philanthropy but she wanted to know more about the role giving has played in Seattle's past.

But, not mention that the Gates Foundation is a KUOW funder.

The editor did say:

It is our policy not to censor listener’s questions based on who they are or where they work. This is why we have this preliminary editorial process. We put the questions up to our listeners to decide which question they want us to cover.  Ms. Martens’ question went through the same vetting process as we use on all Local Wonder questions and listeners responded by voting “What is the role of philanthropy in Seattle?” as their top choice.

So attention all non-profits and businesses - need some free publicity for your group? KUOW will not censor any questions so submit away and you, too, might get on their Local Wonder series. 

And again I point out that during the voting period, KUOW never disclosed Ms. Martens works for the Gates Foundation.  I suspect that vote might have come out differently if they had.

end of update

I recently had this thread, Hey Big Spenders, about the Gates Foundation's largess to Seattle Schools in the amount of $225 while they gave over $2M to a Schoolzilla, a K-12 data platform.


I also reported on how the Local Wonder series at KUOW, about Seattle-based items of interest based on reader questions, had a question about the history of philanthropy in Seattle. from "listener" Anne Martens who is the Senior Communications Officer, Community & Civic Engagement for the Gates Foundation.

I had this question from that thread:

My question is - did KUOW know who she is before they created a report to answer the question?

Well, here's the answer but oddly, not from KUOW, but from Ms. Martens. (I guess she does PR for them now.)

She was the one who went to KUOW and "we talked about the question in advance" and "we decided" it was "simply posing the question and leaving it up to listeners to vote on."

And they did.

Except for:

1) Listeners didn't know an official from the Gates Foundation submitted the question. Have to wonder how they would have voted if KUOW had been honest?

2) Whether the KUOW reporters "independently" wrote it/edited it, does not make it "appropriate." Because any time you have a funder for a radio station be the one to work with staff for content, that's not really "appropriate."

3) Ms. Martens, in working with KUOW, knew that the question would circle to the Gates Foundation, thus giving them more standing, more attention, etc.

I found that last statement - about charter schools and the vote - amusing.

Ms. Martens seems to have forgotten that Seattle, itself, did NOT vote for charter schools just as Seattle, itself, didn't know what they were voting on when they took the vote for the Local Wonder question from Ms. Martens.

I hope my readers are seeing this disturbing trail from the Gates Foundation to KUOW and to the Seattle Times and to ed reformers. Kind of like a NW snail slime trail - something to avoid.

 

Last one standing said...

Hi Melissa, it's Anne Martens with the Gates Foundation, and KUOW does know where I work and we talked about the question in advance and whether it was ok to pose the question. We both decided that because we were simply posing the question and leaving it up to the listeners to vote on whether it was worth answering, as well as up to KUOW reporters to independently answer it, it was editorially independent and appropriate. The question is interesting and worth considering because of the many philanthropic endeavors here, and much of the story focused on Bagley Wright and the Pacific Northwest Ballet (do you hate them too?). Local Wonder chooses their questions based on a vote of the people (much like the public charter schools initiative) and that question won based on votes. Thanks for listening!