John Merrow (born June 14, 1941) is an American broadcast

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...

who reported on

education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty ...

issues starting in the 1970s. He was the education correspondent for the PBS NewsHour program. These features - often under the umbrella heading of "The Merrow Report" - were a staple of education reporting on public broadcasting. Additionally, he was the executive producer, host and president of Learning Matters, Inc., a not-for-profit corporation that creates television, radio and online segments and

documentaries A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in term ...

, focusing primarily on education.

Life

Merrow earned an A.B. from Dartmouth College in 1964, and received an M.A. degree in American Studies from Indiana University in 1968. In 1973, Merrow graduated from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, with a doctorate in Education and Social Policy. He began his career as an education reporter in 1974, when

National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

began airing his first investigative reports on the nation's schools. Merrow quickly developed a devoted following with his program "Options In Education," which aired for eight years. The weekly radio broadcast received the prestigious

George Polk Award The George Polk Awards in Journalism are a series of American journalism awards presented annually by Long Island University in New York in the United States. A writer for Idea Lab, a group blog hosted on the website of PBS, described the awar ...

in 1981. Merrow later produced a seven-part television series for

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

along the same lines, entitled "Your Children, Our Children." This program received an Emmy nomination in 1984. He also served as education correspondent for the

MacNeil MacNeil can have a number of different meanings and spellings: Clan MacNeil is a Scottish clan. Notable people *Al MacNeil (born 1935), Canadian hockey player *Angus MacNeil (born 1970), Scottish politician * Archibald Macneil of Colonsay (fl. ...

/ Lehrer Newshour for five years (1985–1990), and briefly occupied a similar position with

The Learning Channel TLC is an American cable television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. First established in 1980 as The Learning Channel, it initially focused on educational and instructional programming. By the late 1990s, after an acquisition by the ow ...

before returning to the PBS program in 1993. In 1995, Merrow established Learning Matters, which produced his NewsHour reports, along with other media content. In 1998, he created Listen Up! - a project which trains disadvantaged youth and their teachers in broadcast production skills and techniques. He received the

George Foster Peabody Award The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Peabody, honor the most powerful, enlightening, and invigorating stories in television, radio, and ...

in 2001 for "School Sleuth: The Case of an Excellent School," and won a second Peabody Award for Listen Up's production, "Beyond Borders," in 2006. In 2005 and 2007, Learning Matters' programming received Emmy nominations. In 2012, Merrow was honored with the prestigious Harold W. McGraw, Jr. Prize in Education. Merrow retired in 2015 and Learning Matters was acquired by ''

Education Week ''Education Week'' is an independent news organization that has covered K–12 education since 1981. It is owned by Editorial Projects in Education (EPE), a nonprofit organization, and headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland in Greater Washington ...

''. Merrow is also a published book author: he wrote "Choosing Excellence" (2001), "Below C Level" (2010), and "The Influence of Teachers" (2011). He also co-edited, with Richard Hersh, "Declining by Degrees" (2005).

Works

*''Choosing Excellence'' Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press, 2001, , *''Below C Level'' (2010) *''The Influence of Teachers'' (2011). * John Merrow, Richard Hersh, (eds) ''Declining by Degrees'' PBS Home Video, (2005) “Addicted to Reform: A 12-Step Program to Rescue Public Education” (The New Press, 2017)

References

External links

Learning MattersListen Up! Youth Media NetworkOnline NewsHour: Education Archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Merrow, John American male journalists American television journalists Taft School alumni Dartmouth College alumni Indiana University alumni Harvard Graduate School of Education alumni Living people 1941 births Place of birth missing (living people)