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Earlier this week, Claus van Zastrow wrote a piece over at Public School Insights about reporters' shrinking Rolodex when reporting on education stories. He was writing in response to a CBS segment on school reform which included two popular talking heads who agreed with each other.

Serious problem if the New Media is supposed to help inform the public about a complex issue like education reform.

We'd also like to add our observation. We work on education stories every week and see two things:

1. The education beat is disappearing. Fewer news outlets have a dedicated reporter covering the topic.
2. Fewer resources are given to serious coverage of education: not enough training for reporters and not enough space in papers and on the air.

Education policy is a seriously complex and important topic. Without dedicated beat reporters with years on the job, resources and ongoing training, education stories end up being covered by the same general-interest reporters who cover a ribbon-cutting ceremony, a beauty pageant winner or a church bake sale. All relevant community stories, but no special background is needed to convey the news and inform the public.

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