Fans of NewsBusters are quite familiar with how we track instances of labeling bias: where the media don't label liberal activists or employ double standards in labeling conservatives vs. liberals, Republicans vs. Democrats, etc.
But sometimes, a news agency gets it right and while that's how it should be, it's also worth noting in certain cases, like Los Angeles Times reporter Howard Blume's February 18 story, "Judgment day for L.A. teacher union officials."
Blume noted that three years of hard-left control of an L.A. teachers union will come to a head in recent school board elections for L.A. Unified, the second-largest public school district by enrollment in the United States:
The band of left-wing, dissident back-benchers that took over the city teachers union three years ago faces a verdict this week on its revolution. United Teachers Los Angeles is holding elections, the results of which will affect not only teachers but also school-reform efforts and city politics.
UTLA's members are the 48,000 teachers, nurses and school psychologists in the Los Angeles Unified School District. The union's endorsements and street troops help elect city and state politicians, and can carry the most weight in school board elections. And UTLA can impede or propel various efforts to improve the education of the 700,000 students in the nation's second-largest school system.
Blume's article focused heavily on infighting and political intrigue affecting teacher compensation and other bureaucratic matters, something bound to leave L.A. taxpayers wondering just how much full-time liberal educrats care about the, well, education of their children.
Kudos to Blume and the Times for not letting the teacher's union leadership escape without being labeled by their ideology.
—Ken Shepherd is Managing Editor of NewsBusters
Editor at Large
Comments Policy
Albert Shanker
February 18, 2008 - 14:00 ET by iveseenitallEven Albert Shanker, the originator of teacher unionism, admitted his mistakes before he died. All that is left now for America is to tolerate an educational system which is a total failure, due mainly to union refusal to abandon its socialist ways. I pity those teachers who really do try. Even they face a brick wall as so many losers are never held accountable for their lazy lack of performance. This is not even to begin to talk of the rampant, ignorant, cowardly liberalism which has poisoned the system. But to give them some credit, I don't believe that most of the media even realizes how bad it is. Sad.
NEVER,NEVER trust a "liberal"
Now here's a surpeise! The
February 18, 2008 - 15:18 ET by rbosqueNow here's a surpeise! The teacher's unions are leftists! Wow.
I'm shocked.
We NEED to privatize all schools, especially elementary schools!
Who knew?
February 18, 2008 - 15:44 ET by SlicksterWho knew?
Thank you, Ken
February 18, 2008 - 18:22 ET by timotheEven though you don't get the views on these articles that you would on more controversial subject matter, it is important that NB remains a credible source of news information. Reporting the non-bias is both necessary and desirable for this avid reader.
Thanks.
I knew the "fit was going
February 18, 2008 - 21:47 ET by kevcadI knew the "fit was going to hit the shan" someday when Roy Romer took over LAUSD.
Start each day with a smile, then get it over with. - W.C. Fields
If there's one thing I
February 19, 2008 - 00:33 ET by fitzfongIf there's one thing I support that otherwise useless creep Villaraigiosa on, it's his attempt to seize some of the control of LAUSD from the goons running UTLA. If only that other useless creep Schwarzenegger would sort out Barbara Kerr and her corrupt mob at the state level.