Education Blog

Education and the Media

Mark Walsh is a contributing writer to Education Week. He has covered education issues for more than two decades and in this blog looked at how schools are covered in the general news media and in the popular culture. This blog is no longer being updated.

Education Hail and Farewell to the Education and the Media Blog
Education Week's blog about media coverage of education and how schools are depicted in popular culture comes to a close, but its exploration of those issues will continue.
Mark Walsh, May 14, 2019
3 min read
Education Coverage of Parkland and Aftermath Earn Education Writers Association Awards
Several news outlets win for coverage of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and issues related to school violence.
Mark Walsh, May 7, 2019
3 min read
Education 'We Are Columbine' Film Looks at How 4 Freshmen Coped With 1999 Shooting
Director Laura Farber, who was a freshman when two students killed 13 at Columbine High School, focuses on four of her classmates from the class of 2002.
Mark Walsh, April 18, 2019
4 min read
Education Parkland Shooting Coverage Earns Sun Sentinel Pulitzer Prize for Public Service
The newspaper wins the prestigious journalism competition's top award for its probing coverage in the months that followed the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, in Parkland, Fla.
Mark Walsh, April 15, 2019
4 min read
Education HBO Documentary Comedy Devotes Season to Education's 'Problem Areas'
The second season of "Wyatt Cenac's Problem Areas" will feature the former "Daily Show" correspondent examining some key issues in education.
Mark Walsh, April 3, 2019
3 min read
Education DeVos to Address Education Writers Association Meeting for First Time
U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos will speak at EWA's national seminar in May, the first time she will appear before hundreds of probing education journalists.
Mark Walsh, March 7, 2019
1 min read
Education Alaska Reporter Will Study Rural Education as 2nd Chronister Fellowship Recipient
Victoria Petersen, of the Peninsula Clarion on the Kenai Peninsula, will report on the challenges of rural education, especially in a state as vast as Alaska.
Mark Walsh, February 14, 2019
3 min read
Education More Parkland Documentaries, on Football and the Scene Inside Building 12
An ESPN documentary short highlights the football team at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, while "Parkland: Inside Building 12" details the movements of the mass shooting.
Mark Walsh, February 11, 2019
5 min read
Education HBO's 'Song of Parkland' Spotlights the 'Theater Kids' of Stoneman Douglas High
The documentary shows how theater students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, led by drama teacher Melody Herzfeld, coped with the last year's shooting by returning to the stage.
Mark Walsh, February 5, 2019
3 min read
Education Parkland Parents Call for Top Journalism Prize for Sun-Sentinel Coverage
Two parents of students slain last year at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School call for the top Pulitzer Prize to go to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel for its coverage.
Mark Walsh, January 30, 2019
2 min read
Education ABC's 'Schooled,' a Spinoff of 'The Goldbergs,' Centers on Teachers
"Schooled" focuses on the new music teacher at William Penn Academy, a school based on the creator's own private school in Philadelphia.
Mark Walsh, January 8, 2019
3 min read
Education Louis C.K. Comedy Bit Critical of Parkland Survivors and Activists Draws Backlash
An audio clip from what apparently was a recent performance by the controversial and disgraced comic draws criticism from a Parkland survivor and others.
Mark Walsh, January 2, 2019
3 min read
Education U.S. Safety Panel Urges Media to Embrace 'No Notoriety' for School Shooters
The Federal Commission on School Safety's final report calls on media, school districts, and law enforcement to avoid giving undue attention to perpetrators of mass school violence.
Mark Walsh, December 19, 2018
4 min read
Education 'Frontline' Examines Woes of Kentucky's Underfunded Teacher Pension Plan
The PBS show looks at one of the most underfunded teacher-retirement plans in the nation, and the political battles this year over changes to Kentucky's system.
Mark Walsh, October 22, 2018
2 min read