Moving on: Motoko Rich (left), and Lyndsey Layton (right)
The new EWA EdBeat report suggests that education news coverage is holding remarkably steady given all the turmoil in journalism as a whole.
According to the report, “32 percent say their outlets’ education news staff shrank over the past two years, 27 percent say staffs grew, and 41 percent say the size hasn’t changed.”
However, at least two major news outlets have moved veteran education reporters to other duties, effectively halving the reporting that the outlets will be producing:
In February, the Washington Post’s Lyndsey Layton moved over to editing DC area politics.
In April, the New York Times’ Motoko Rich announced that she was going to become Tokyo bureau chief.
Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal continues to lack a national education reporter.
I’ve had my issues with the stories produced by Rich and Layton over the years, but their departures from the beat aren’t necessarily good things for the field.
Neither the NYT or Washington Post will be without anyone covering education nationally, however. At the Post, there’s Emma Brown. At the Times, there’s Kate Zernike.
