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Why PragerU is trying to get its videos into schools Despite the suggestive
sound of its name, PragerU is a content creator, not a university. Its short,
well-produced videos appeal to college students and young people. And it has big
plans to grow.
Special Series


UNTANGLING DISINFORMATION


PRAGERU IS A CONSERVATIVE VIDEO GIANT. HERE'S WHY IT'S TRYING TO GET INTO
SCHOOLS

March 7, 20245:00 AM ET
Heard on All Things Considered

By 

Lisa Hagen

PRAGERU IS A CONSERVATIVE VIDEO GIANT. HERE'S WHY IT'S TRYING TO GET INTO
SCHOOLS

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PragerU CEO Marissa Streit speaks at a news conference with Arizona state Sen.
Jake Hoffman, State Superintendent of Schools Tom Horne and Scottsdale Unified
School District Board Member Carine Werner at the Arizona State Capitol.
PragerU/Screenshot by NPR hide caption

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PragerU/Screenshot by NPR


PragerU CEO Marissa Streit speaks at a news conference with Arizona state Sen.
Jake Hoffman, State Superintendent of Schools Tom Horne and Scottsdale Unified
School District Board Member Carine Werner at the Arizona State Capitol.

PragerU/Screenshot by NPR

Despite the suggestive sound of its name, PragerU is not a university. It's a
content creator. The conservative media nonprofit makes short, well-produced
videos crafted to appeal to college students and young people. It has polished
animations and titles like "What Radical Islam and the Woke Have in Common" and
"Is There Really a Climate Emergency?"

Recently, news headlines have focused on its PragerU Kids content.

Arizona recently became the latest state where education officials have embraced
online videos produced by PragerU. It follows at least four other states that
approved Prager's material for use in public school classrooms last year, though
it's unclear how many students have watched these videos.

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EDUCATION


A LOT IS HAPPENING IN FLORIDA EDUCATION. THESE ARE SOME OF THE CHANGES KIDS WILL
SEE

In a podcast interview last fall, the group's CEO, Marissa Streit, argued that
the U.S. education system is "a left-wing propaganda machine" that teaches
students to hate America. PragerU Kids, she says, is the supposed inoculation.

"PragerU shows up everywhere with medicine for the mind so that we can cure and
help people think clearly," said Streit.

Educators have voiced alarms about the tone and accuracy of some of PragerU's
videos, such as one that features an animated Christopher Columbus saying:
"Being taken as a slave is better than being killed, no? I don't see the
problem."

Enlarge this image

PragerU videos frequently focus, with a conservative bent, on topics including
history, economics, values and wellness. Videos such as this one, about
Christopher Columbus, have been criticized for how historical events have been
depicted. PragerU/Screenshot by NPR hide caption

toggle caption
PragerU/Screenshot by NPR


PragerU videos frequently focus, with a conservative bent, on topics including
history, economics, values and wellness. Videos such as this one, about
Christopher Columbus, have been criticized for how historical events have been
depicted.

PragerU/Screenshot by NPR

PragerU officials have said the video accurately portrays what Columbus would
have felt about slavery. Cartoon Columbus goes on to scold two time-traveling
kids for judging him based on current-day thinking about slavery.

The group markets its thousands of videos as nonpartisan explorations of big
ideas. But that's a misleading framing, according to Eliah Bures with the
University of California, Berkeley's Center for Right-Wing Studies.


TRACKING THE ISSUES IN THE 2024 ELECTION


HOW SCHOOLS (BUT NOT NECESSARILY EDUCATION) BECAME CENTRAL TO THE REPUBLICAN
PRIMARY

"It's always tilted relentlessly in a single ideological direction," said Bures.
"You would come away from it thinking that the position that's just been laid
out is the only one that reasonable, sane people could ever possibly hold."

In a statement to NPR, PragerU responded to critics who question its neutrality:
"It appears that any material that contradicts the left's narrative cannot be
permitted because their arguments don't stand up to scrutiny, even just five
minutes' worth."

Enlarge this image

Talk radio host Dennis Prager, seen here in 2017, is the namesake of PragerU, a
conservative media nonprofit that creates short videos. John Sciulli/Getty
Images hide caption

toggle caption
John Sciulli/Getty Images


Talk radio host Dennis Prager, seen here in 2017, is the namesake of PragerU, a
conservative media nonprofit that creates short videos.

John Sciulli/Getty Images


RUNNING A NONPROFIT LIKE A BUSINESS

PragerU's namesake is Dennis Prager, a longtime conservative radio host from Los
Angeles. The idea to start a "university" came from Prager's wealthy fans on a
cruise he held with listeners, but that was an expensive prospect and would
graduate only small classes of students. Instead, PragerU's founders opted to
reach people with short videos.



Within a few years, the nonprofit was getting multimillion-dollar donations from
funders including Dan and Farris Wilks, brothers who made billions from natural
gas fracking and who argue that climate change is God's will.

In 2022, tax records show, PragerU pulled in more than $65 million in donations.
Streit, in the podcast interview, said she runs PragerU more like a business
than a nonprofit.


EDUCATION


HISTORY AND CIVICS SCORES DROP FOR U.S. EIGHTH-GRADERS ON NATIONAL TEST

She said it's a model that has led her to pour millions of dollars into
advertising. In recent years, PragerU's marketing budget has hovered at about
half of its expenses.

"And that is our secret sauce. We realized very early on that what is the point
of building a beautiful car if you never put any gasoline in it?" Streit said.


INFLUENCERS OR EDUCATORS?

Last year, that strategy grew to include partnering with conservative state
education officials. In Florida and Texas, wealthy supporters helped facilitate
these introductions, according to email records NPR obtained.

"I'd like to introduce you to Manny Diaz, Jr., Florida Commissioner of
Education. I met Manny and his wife Jennifer at the inaugural for Governor
DeSantis. The Diaz family are big PragerU fans, so we had a very positive
conversation about a potential opportunity to bring some of the PragerU content
into Florida public K-12 schools (and perhaps colleges?)," wrote investor David
Blumberg to Streit in January 2023.

In a June 2023 email, real estate investor Richard Weekley introduced Streit to
Texas education officials. "PragerU would love to show your team how they have
made their high-quality content be standards-aligned and user-friendly for
teachers to easily access and implement in their K-10th classrooms."

Neither Blumberg nor Weekley responded to NPR's interview requests about their
emails to state officials.

PragerU has invited public officials to its studios to film ads and approve its
kids videos for classroom use, according to reporting by NBC News and New
Hampshire Public Radio.



"If you think of groups like PragerU as influencers instead of educators, their
main goal, their claim to fame, is eyeballs. The number of views, the number of
followers, the number of clicks," said Adam Laats, a former schoolteacher turned
professor at Binghamton University whose research focuses on the history of
American education.


EDUCATION


WEST VIRGINIA SENATE PASSES BILL REQUIRING SCHOOLS SHOW A FETAL DEVELOPMENT
VIDEO

He says that's a fundamentally different approach than the one most educational
publishers take.

Generally, Laats said, conservatives have been regaining influence over
education policy, but he's skeptical PragerU's material will make it into many
public school classrooms.

He says the group's real accomplishment may be in building up a brand that
ambitious, conservative officials want to be seen supporting. In Arizona
recently, PragerU held a news conference with local lawmakers and education
officials who lined up to praise the nonprofit.

"This partnership is about supporting the children of this state, and it
furthers Arizona Republicans' commitment to fighting for the futures of every
child that calls this state home," said Arizona state Sen. Jake Hoffman.


NATIONAL


TEXAS PUSHES SOME TEXTBOOK PUBLISHERS TO REMOVE MATERIAL ON FOSSIL FUELS

Actually reshaping what students learn in schools is a notoriously difficult
process, said Laats, even for conservative curriculum developers who've spent
decades building relationships with state education systems.

What these state partnerships do succeed in, Laats said, is generating
headlines. That coverage gives both PragerU and public officials something to
show donors and supporters, but this mutual reinforcement, Laats said, is less
helpful for students.

"You know, it'd be like if a state approved, you know, Snickers bars as healthy
food. Even if no students ate it, it's important for us to agree that that
doesn't count as healthy food," said Laats.

PragerU is likely to announce more partnerships in as many states as it can. In
a statement to NPR, it said it's working on a new early-literacy show.

The group also continues to try out new formats. Its recent short documentary
debut was 20 minutes on a central preoccupation of the right: gender-affirming
care.

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