- Council of the Great City Schools
- Bestselling Author, Political Analyst, and Space Activist Address Council at Fall Conference
Digital urban Educator - November/December 2024
Page Navigation
- Council Selects 11 Educators to Join the Michael Casserly Urban Executive Leadership Institute
- Voters Decide on Education Ballot Issues
- New Leaders Named in San Francisco and Cincinnati; Baltimore Leader Tenure Extended
- Bestselling Author, Political Analyst, and Space Activist Address Council at Fall Conference
- Students Speak Out at Council Town Hall Meeting
- Toledo Superintendent Named Urban Educator of the Year
- Council Names David Lai Director of English Language Learner Policy and Research
NBC Analyst Chuck Todd Cites Vital Role of Local News
-
DALLAS--Veteran political journalist Chuck Todd called for “the revitalization of local news” in his keynote address at the Council of the Great City Schools’ Annual Fall Conference in Dallas.
“I think the biggest problem we have in our information ecosystem is that we have gutted local news—and all of you know this better than anybody,” Todd said, describing the “nationalization of local issues [as] absolutely polarizing.”
School leaders, he said, are understandably exhausted in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, and their work “has become harder than ever because of this nationalization of issues.”
By improving communication and distribution of information at the local level, Todd said, “we can debunk and diffuse the anger out there and get people to stop consuming national points of view and trying to apply it locally.”
The media business must accept its share of the blame, said Todd, former moderator of Meet the Press and now chief political analyst for NBC News.
He lamented how numerous regional news outlets have closed their bureaus in Washington, D.C. As a result, readers and viewers lack access to reporting that would give them a picture of how decisions in Washington impact their local community.
On another topic, Todd was blunt. “I think our election systems are broken. The primary system has created huge problems,” he said. “Not enough people vote in primaries, so you have extreme forces that basically punch above their weight. We need nationalized primaries. We need everybody voting. ... We have a national election day – why not have nationalized primaries” or multiple regional primary days?”
He also called for an end to party registration to vote in primaries, which would have the effect, he said, of creating a more inclusive voting pool that would tend to opt for more moderate candidates.
Media Contact:
Contact Name
Contact@email.com
(000) 000-0000
Contact Name
Contact@email.com
(000) 000-0000
Contact Name
Contact@email.com
(000) 000-0000
Media Contact:
Contact Name
Contact@email.com
(000) 000-0000
Contact Name
Contact@email.com
(000) 000-0000
Contact Name
Contact@email.com
(000) 000-0000