8 Top Takeaways from the Conversation: The Future of Child Care Reporting From Those Who Cover It

You don’t have to work in journalism to know that the field is changing rapidly. Newspapers are continuing to vanish at an average rate of more than two a week. Since 2005, the country has lost almost 2,900 newspapers, including more than 130 confirmed closings or mergers over the past year. According to data from the State of Local News Report from Northwestern University, if we continue on this current trajectory, by the end of next year, the country will have lost a third of the newspapers it had in 2005. Unfortunately, the growth in alternative news sources—digital and ethnic news outlets, as well as public broadcasting—has not kept pace with what’s being lost.

There’s a lot we stand to lose with less local journalism: fewer local journalists, fewer watch dogs, fewer hard-hitting stories to hold governments, businesses and people accountable for their actions.

Also, fewer beat reporters.

This is why I was joined by four other journalists who cover child care as part of their work for a webinar, entitled: The Changing Nature of the Child Care Beat, from Leading Independent Journalists Who Cover It, which was co-hosted by the Better Life Lab and Early Learning Nation magazine. You can find a video recording of the event here.

Here are 8 of the top takeaways from our conversation:

1. More journalists covering child care can lead to more data on child care, and we know that data helps inform decision makers on how and what to prioritize. We also know that care work in general has been under-measured and under-valued in our economy, thanks in part to a Gross Domestic Product that doesn’t account for unpaid household work.

2. Even though the economic arguments in support of a more robust, universal child care infrastructure are those that resonate the most with voters, the reporters who cover this topic would like to shift the focus to include the positive effect on kids, providers, families and our society as a whole that comes with a strong child care program.

Economic arguments are important, but they don’t tell the whole story, and can threaten to eclipse what actually matters the most: the young people receiving care and being nurtured into caring, compassionate and engaged young citizens.

3. For child care coverage to matter, the leadership in newsrooms need to also value this. Some of this will come from people in leadership positions who have a firsthand experience with care (the same way that electing more mothers to elected office can yield more family-friendly policies). Another way is through publications, like the 19th News, which focus directly on issues affecting women and LGBTQ+ people.

4. Watchdog stories make a difference and we need more of them. Two of the reporters on the call—Chabeli Carrazna of the 19th and Jackie Mader of Hechinger Report—spoke about the rippling effects of their powerful watchdog stories and their desire to do more deep-dives that hold government officials accountable. You can read Carrazna’s story on state child safety regulations here and Mader’s story on Mississippi’s child care crisis here.

5. The 21st century journalism model has a strong philanthropic base. All of us on the call who write about child care acknowledged the philanthropic support for our writing. Philanthropists have committed to major funding—$500 million—to support local news. And for child care beats to get the full funding they need, philanthropic support may be part of that solution.

6. We need more child care journalism to get child care on the national stage. Our conversation lamented that the presidential debate spent more time conversing about golf than child care. Streeter writes a lifestyle column, but child care figures prominently because any conversation around parenting includes the question of who looks after your child?

7. We also need more stories like that to keep child care on the national stage as a major economic issue affecting families, like those Swartz writes about Precious Moments Family Childcare in Rockville, Maryland. By elevating the voices of child care providers, we can recognize them for the professional work they do and compensate them accordingly.

8. Focus on collective solutions, instead of blaming individuals. Right now, each individual family comes up with a child care solution, which is not always workable or affordable. We need to acknowledge that those who are struggling to find workable arrangements are doing so because a system as significant as child care requires a collective solution and robust government investment (just like K-12 education).

I’ve written many stories—in Early Learning Nation, for Better Life Lab and on my Substack—about why we make parenting in this country harder than it needs to be. It doesn’t have to be this hard. An Overton window—the range of politically acceptable policies at any given moment—exists now for child care. This is why it is the ideal time to keep the child care stories going now.

I encourage anyone who wants to learn more about this issue to watch our webinar, and follow the work of these journalists: Chabeli Carrazana, Jackie Mader, Leslie Gray Streeter and Mark Swartz. You can also read and engage more on child care right here at Early Learning Nation.