The DeVos’ing of Linda McMahon
Frederick Hess
December 16, 2024
Education journalists are subjecting Trump’s second SecEd nominee to the same smear campaign as his first, reminding us why the media has lost credibility.
Eight years ago, President-elect Donald Trump nominated school choice advocate Betsy DeVos for secretary of education. Within days, major media outlets seemed intent on competing to see who could slime her most aggressively. That pretty much set the pace for her tenure.
Trump has now nominated a new secretary of education, former Small Business Administration chief and pro-wrestling executive Linda McMahon. And, right on schedule, after four years of fawning coverage of Miguel Cardona’s nomination and acquiescent treatment of his misbegotten tenure, education journalists have rediscovered their taste for ad hominem invective.
Of course, journalists should scrutinize a prospective secretary of education. They should ask hard questions about a nominee’s experience, knowledge, and character. But that scrutiny is only useful when it’s intent on truth. And that requires a consistent standard for reporting on nominees, a commitment to distinguishing established facts from unsupported allegations, and a belief that readers should hear from both critics and champions of a nominee.
