[Billfred]

I'll handle the other viewpoint, from two angles.

First, it's FLL. The FIRST LEGO League. Most of the FIRST-related groups on this planet have enough of a time trying to get a mention of their efforts in the local newspaper. Here we've got CNN, James Earl Jones identification and all, promoting a FIRST event. Sure, it's a subset of a larger event, one that we almost all participated in other parts of, but we've still got national worldwide coverage.

Secondly, consider this year's FLL challenge, one based around people with disabilities. Could it be that the world gets more warm fuzzies from seeing elementary and middle school kids learning about this than hearing of high schoolers gaining exposure to the field of engineering? For better or for worse, some degree of what makes it into the news is what the public wants to hear. If folks want to hear about them kids with them thar robots, they'll hear about them.