CREW Wins Big for All FOIA Requesters

April 10, 2013–The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled in favor of the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, saying that agencies had 20 days to respond to FOIA requests, stating "what documents would or wouldn’t be handed over and why," according to the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. 

Open-Access Science Publishing: Good for Journalists, and Good for Public

January 16, 2013–The suicide earlier this month of open-access activist Aaron Swartz brings again to the fore the ongoing difficulty journalists have accessing published scientific studies that bear on key current and future policy issues. Photo of Swartz, credit Flickr/peretzp.

Enviros Urge EPA Not To Weaken Drinking Water Reports

October 31, 2012–Fifteen environmental and public health groups say EPA had not allowed sufficient time for public review, only put relevant information into its docket at the last minute, and emphasized easing a "burden" utilities had lived with for years at the expense of protecting the public.

Journalists Detained at Texas Protest of Keystone XL Pipeline

October 17, 2012–The two New York Times journalists were working on private land with the permission of the landowner, near Winnsboro in northeast Texas, when they were detained, according to the online energy publication FuelFix. The 78-year-old owner of the land, who objects to the routing of the pipeline across it, was also arrested for trespassing on her own land.

Federal Judge Limits PETA Video Display at Kansas State Fair

September 5, 2012–People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals had planned to display a video showing animals being slaughtered and instances of abuse. The fair board said that PETA could only show the video within its booth and out of public view, so that people would have to make a deliberate decision to see it.

Big Canadian Fish Farm Firm Seeks to Criminalize, Silence Environmental Critics

January 12, 2012–Mainstream Canada, the nation's second-largest farmed-salmon producer — and a subsidiary of an even more gargantuan Danish transnational holding company — will try to crush and silence environmental activist Don Staniford, who has had the temerity to criticize their operations publicly.

Ex-CIA Spook Stalks Climate Scientist Mann

January 12, 2011–A man claiming to be an ex-CIA agent is telling people they may stand to get rich if only they could come up with some dirt on scientist Michael Mann, author of the famous hockey-stick graph that shows the earth getting warm suddenly in recent years. No luck so far.

High Court Mulls Public's Right To Know of Threats to Its Safety

December 15, 2010–In the case of Milner v. Navy, a Puget Sound resident and activist sought information that would identify the locations and potential blast ranges of explosive ordnance stored at Washington’s Naval Magazine Indian Island.

SLAPP Win: Court Awards Legal Fees to Filmmaker in Dole Case

December 15, 2010–The makers of "Bananas!," which claimed that Dole's use of pesticides had caused harm to farm workers in Nicaragua, were awarded $200,000 in court costs and attorney fees.

SEJ, J-Groups Urge High Court To Toss Curb on Speech in Wildlife Case

July 29, 2009–Sloppy legal draftsmanship resulted in a 1999 law that could put journalists and publishers in jail for doing investigative exposés of animal cruelty.