Key Points
- This report examines how media covered the critical race theory (CRT) debate in schooling through an analysis of all news articles published between September 2020 and August 2021 by four major newspapers and three major education press outlets.
- Coverage largely ignored bedrock assumptions of CRT, including its explicit rejection of rationality and objectivity. This was mentioned in fewer than 10 percent of articles.
- News accounts also rarely mentioned concerns about CRT-aligned practices, such as segregated, race-based affinity spaces or the promotion of “anti-racist” racial stereotypes.
- Instead, most coverage focused on whether schools should discuss racism and slavery, even though few (if any) critics have adopted this position. The result has been a misleading, slanted, and dismissive caricature of sober concerns.