TW and AZ Star on TUSD board race: Contrasting coverage shows media biases

by Pamela Powers
Hannley

Undoubtedly one of the more contentious local races this election
season is the non-partisan 12-person race for three unpaid positions on the Tucson Unified
School District's (TUSD)
Governing Board.

In this race, there are two University
of Arizona professors, a call center
supervisor, a Sunnyside
School District employee, a self-employed landscaper, a lawyer, a Chamber
of Commerce VP, a former TUSD teacher, a Pima County
employee, and three business owners. (Isn't democracy grand?)

In this week's Tucson Weekly (TW), columnist
Mari Herreras tackled the challenging task of profiling
the 11 of the 12 candidates. (One of the business owers bowed out of the
interview process.) When covering a hot topic like the TUSD board, I would have
hoped that the TW would have chosen a more neutral
reporter. Otherwise, they're just opening themselves up to comments from some blogger. 

Although the TW story leads with some of the high
points of the Mexican American Studies (MAS) controversy, it goes on to say,
"Mexican American Studies isn't the only issue that the district
faces." It's definitely not the only issue, but MAS must be the most
important issue for Herreras and the TW.

I counted the topic mentions in the TW article, and here are the stats:

1) MAS- 30 mentions

2) TUSD's looming $17 million budget deficit- 10 mentions

3) School closures- 4 mentions

4) Miscellaneous topics that got 1-2 mentions:
    declining enrollment 
    spending more money in classrooms
    graduation rates
    class sizes
    skills/curriculum
    standards 
    student achievement 
    desegregation 

Overall, the article discussed TUSD Board Superindent Dr. John
Pedicone's raise and board politics more than student achievement or graduation
rates.

In contrast, the Arizona
Daily Star ran two articles highlighting the views of the TUSD
candidates this week. One very lengthy article focused completely on budget
and finance, while the other
one tackled other issues, including what the candidates believe is the
biggest problem facing the district and what they think about MAS. When asked
about TUSD's biggest challenges, the answers ran the gamut but mostly focused
on budget/finance or student achievement. 

So, the TW coverage focused more on MAS than any
other issue, and theStar devoted
more column inches to budgetary problems. What about graduation rates, student
achievement, skill-building, curriculum development, class sizes, testing,
teacher development, teacher pay, money in the classrooms, white flight, charter schools,
desegregation, Prop 204, or squeezing more money out of the Legislature?

If you want to learn more about this race and the issues facing
TUSD, come to the candidate
forum sponsored by Drinking Liberally tonight— Wednesday, September 26–
at The Shanty.