Reporting on Literacy: Soft-Selling a Complex Political Story.

Much of the story of illiteracy is about the powerless, and reporting on it can focus on who lacks power and why. However, much of the untold story about illiteracy is about people with power who are choosing not to wield it--educators, economists, elected officials, presidential candidates, corporate leaders, publishers, and the literate public at large--in support of changing poverty-related illiteracy. Reporting on illiteracy and other poverty issues requires immersion, context, and repetition. The first step in reporting on illiteracy is defining the problem and isolating its causes. It requires asking why and making connections. Finally, good reporting on illiteracy requires comparisons that get attention, objectivity, and the search for tidal facts, the facts that illuminate the essential truths of the situation. (KC)