The news of inclusive education: a narrative analysis

This paper investigates a nationally publicised case in the debate over the best method of educating millions of children with severe disabilities. Us ing Fisher's narrative paradigm, this paper analyses 4 years of the extensi ve media coverage of the legal battles of Mark Hartmann's family. The 11-ye ar-old's parents took the Loudoun County, VA, Board of Education to court t o reinstate their autistic son in a regular classroom. Much media attention focused on the story because it dramatised the issues concerning the natio nal debate about inclusion. The paper provides a synopsis of the narratives about inclusive education within the news media that arose from their cove rage of the Hartmann case. Through the press, competing interests told thei r stories to the public, hoping to win the moral high ground and persuade o thers of the 'good reasons' that support their understanding of the costs o r benefits of inclusion. Although the Hartmanns lost in court, this narrati ve analysis suggests that the family and its supporters provided more persu asive narrative themes in the news media's court of public opinion, thus ad vancing the national inclusion movement.