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Title : Not To Put Too Fine a Point On It But...
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Not To Put Too Fine a Point On It But...
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 for 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 if they would have voted for it 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 - not 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!
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