Here's a list from previous article of Brill's successes and failures, which would certainly make me look for someone who I would want to fix education.
Successes
The American Lawyer: Brill launched what would become the nation's leading legal magazine in 1979. This is not an unqualified success, though, since American Lawyer Media (now Incisive Media) is having problems right now.
Court TV: Brill created the network (now truTV) in 1991. After receiving a huge popularity boost from the OJ Simpson trial, it was sold it to Time Warner in 1997. For which Brill got a tidy sum.
Emily Brill: Steven's daughter, the ultimate narrator.
Failures
Brill's Content: Launched in 1998, this mediacentric mag was supposed to capitalize on America's insatiable thirst for news about the news! Turned out not that many people really care about the news about the news. Not enough to pay money, at least. Stopped publishing in 2001.
Contentville.com: A website selling "a variety of content ranging from thesis papers to ebooks." Closed in 2001.
Inside.com: The legendary media site that launched the careers of many top media reporters and also failed to make any money. The magazine version of Inside was merged with Brill's Content, and the website was part of a convoluted plan with Primedia to corner the market on media trade publications, but the whole thing was shuttered in 2001.
Clear: In the post-9/11 world, Brill noticed, airport security sure was a hassle. People would pay to be "verified" beforehand so they could breeze right through! Right? 165,000 people did, reportedly, and Clear raised more than $100 million from investors, but now it's dead, unable to afford to keep going.
Brill also wrote a couple books which didn't sell all that well and a column for Newsweek, but you can judge those on their own merits. He's not out of the game, though—his other ongoing venture is Journalism Online, a company that plans to help various magazines and newspapers charge readers for online access. Bet on it!
Back to the commentary. Brill got some support when the aptly named Students First group took issue with this blog. It's founder is Michelle Rhee. Of course no one actually says whether the group wants the students to be first at achieving academic greatness or going over a cliff. She also got support from groups support the American Way and another who support puppies.
In a press release Michelle's group celebrates Michelle's time working for teach for America and her time of achieving unprecedented growth in the Washington School System. It does not disclose a primary tool Michelle used to achieve this goal.
According to the AFT (American Federation of Teachers) ,"It's revealing that StudentsFirst's spokesperson calls RheeFirst.com an attack site -- yet doesn't challenge any of the facts on the site. That's because RheeFirst.com aggregates articles raising fair and legitimate questions about Michelle Rhee's agenda. Much of this information can't be found on Michelle Rhee's official website, such as her work with Republican governors to promote vouchers and to dismantle public education, her failure to acknowledge the seriousness of the cheating that occurred on her watch in Washington, D.C., or countless other examples you can find on RheeFirst.com.
RheeFirst.com has acted as a truth squad, and that's what it will continue to do. We hope StudentsFirst's feigned outrage will lead members of the media and the public to visit RheeFirst.com and get a better understanding of Michelle Rhee's true agenda. We also hope, in the spirit of transparency, that StudentsFirst will now reveal its donors."
Full Story here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/29/rheefirst-michelle-rhee-american-federation-of-teachers_n_941085.html
What the ed reformers really seem to object to is that the attack on Rhee is one sided and does not past the fair and balanced test such as readers of this blog will remember Rhee famously sweeping out all the excess teachers from her schools.
They also disapprove of the maliciousness shown to this woman rather than the caring thoughtful decisions that this women showed to her employees. Anyone who has read this blog knows the thoughtful caring nature that she demonstrated while firing them, after making the difficult decision to bring the cameras in to document it.
Anyone who would like to link to the blog can do it here: http://www.rheefirst.com/
Do it before the ed reformers manage to erase this down the rabbit hole of history. Of course they'll only do so because they selflessly have your children's welfare at heart.
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