EDUCATING NEWS: Just off the virtual presses: two respected nonprofit education news services are partnering with the hopes of creating a nation-wide network of education news.
Education News Colorado is a five-year-old award-winning, Denver-based non-profit news website; GothamSchools is New York City's nonprofit education news service. Together they're starting the Education News Network (ENN). (Nope, don't look for it on the web yet; anything that you find with a similar name isn't related. The group will have a .org site).
Together they hope to build news teams in cities and states around the US. Alan Gottlieb, who has led the Colorado EdNews site, will be publisher of the ENN.org. He says the group aims to do balanced reporting on issues that are central to decision makers, focusing on stories that matter rather than "gotcha" headlines. High on his list of places to build out the network are cities and states where education policies are in transition: "Tennessee, Houston, Indianapolis--we'll see where this plays out," says Gottlieb.
The group has received funding from some foundations, including the Walton Family Foundation, SeaChange Capital Partners and the New York-based Arabella Advisors. It will also likely run advertising and sell sponsorships to generate revenue. So far, the team including about six people, half in New York and half in Colorado. EdNews also hired experienced journalist Maura Walz as managing editor. (She had previously worked at Georgia Public Broadcasting and GothamSchools.)
