NPC Communicators Lunch and Learn: Meet the Education Media (Online Event)

The evolution of the media and education landscapes over the last year have created both challenges and opportunities for journalists covering education in the United States, at the national and the regional/local levels.

On Thursday, July 22 at 12 noon, the National Press Club Communicators Team brings together a panel of education media experts to discuss the coverage of trending topics such as safely returning students to classrooms after the pandemic, school board politics and critical race theory. They’ll also look at the state of the education beat, including what’s changed in the newsroom and what they’re looking for from sources.

Admission is free for all National Press Club members. NPC members must be logged into their online account to access the complimentary admission.

Non-member guests may attend this online program for a $15 registration fee, with all proceeds going to the National Press Club’s Help The Heroes program, which provides freshly made to-go meals to front-line healthcare workers serving communities of color that are often the most impacted by COVID-19.

About the Panelists

Chastity Pratt is the Education Bureau Chief at The Wall Street Journal, where she leads a team of reporters and directs coverage across all platforms. Prior to joining the WSJ in 2020, Chastity spent a year studying education funding as a fellow at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard. She was part of a nonprofit news leadership team that designed a multiplatform newsroom called Bridge Detroit, and was urban affairs reporter at Bridge Magazine.  Chastity has also covered education at the Detroit Free Press, Newsday and The Oregonian. 

Delece Smith-Barrow is the education editor at POLITICO. Previously, she was a senior editor for higher education at The Hechinger Report. She was also a 2017 Knight-Wallace Fellow at the University of Michigan, where she spent a year studying how top-tier universities are increasing the numbers of underrepresented minority faculty. Prior to joining The Hechinger Report, she was a reporter at U.S. News & World Report, and a producer, writer and editor at The Washington Post. She received a bachelor's degree from University of Maryland--College Park and a master's degree from Georgetown University.

Caroline Hendrie is the executive director of the Education Writers Association, the national professional organization for members of the news media who cover education. She leads strategy, development and programming for the nonprofit organization in support of its mission to strengthen the community of education writers and improve the quality of education coverage to better inform the public. Hendrie was herself an award-winning education journalist for more than two decades, with experience covering education from early learning through postsecondary schooling at the local, state and national levels. From 1996 to 2010, Hendrie held various reporting and editing positions, including managing editor, at Education Week. She started her career at daily newspapers in Connecticut and spent seven years as state education writer and editor at The Record, a daily newspaper based in Bergen County, New Jersey. She is a graduate of Wesleyan University.

Debra Silimeo (moderator), President of The Silimeo Group and a member of the National Press Club Board of Governors