Web Tool Brings Documents to Life

April 15, 2012–Read this Reporter's Toolbox excerpt from the Spring issue of SEJournal: Amanda Hickman explains how the web-based tool DocumentCloud, founded in 2009 with a Knight News Challenge grant, lets journalists engage with the public and knowledgeable sources. Use it to analyze, annotate, and publish the documents behind your reporting.

RTK Net Reporting Tools Still Sharp After Many Years

April 4, 2012–The Right-To-Know Network has been around since 1989. Today, with a modern and searchable Web interface, it offers access to some data that reporters would be hard put to find anywhere else. Most important is its collection of Risk Management Plans — which chemical plants are required to maintain to prevent, prepare for, and respond to toxic disasters.

Mexico Moves Toward Federalizing Crimes Against Journalists

March 21, 2012–The Mexican Senate on March 13, 2012, approved a constitutional amendment making attacks on journalists a federal crime — which would help journalists bypass possibly corrupt local police officials. The measure must now be approved by a majority of Mexico's state legislatures.

Iowa Outlaws Some Undercover Investigations As Other States Mull Bills

March 7, 2012–Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad (pictured) signed the so-called "Ag Gag" bill into law March 2, 2012, making it a crime to obtain access to an agricultural facility "under false pretenses" — without defining "false pretenses." Does this apply to hidden cameras? Animal rights activists have often resorted to hidden cameras — and shared with news media photos and videos of shocking cruelty to animals.

TipSheet Publication To Be Suspended

February 15, 2012–SEJ regrets to announce that biweekly publication of the TipSheet will be suspended after the next issue pending renewal of adequate funding.There is some chance the TipSheet may be reinvented. In order for this to happen, it will help if you let us know what you did and didn't like about the TipSheet.

SEJ Condemns House Science Panel Arrest of Journalist

February 8, 2012–Read SEJ's February 6, 2012, letter to Energy and Environment Subcommittee Chair Harris condemning ejection of Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Josh Fox from the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology's subcommittee hearing on EPA's policies and enforcement of water quality issues surrounding natural gas drilling or "fracking."

SEJ Urges EPA Press Office To Open up Agency Info to News Media

February 8, 2012–On January 27, 2012, SEJ wrote to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, after unreturned phone calls and ignored emails, in an attempt to get the agency to resume quarterly conference calls to discuss access issues and the run-around SEJ members endure when trying to do their jobs.

Climate Change Coverage Not Only Dips in Quantity, But Also Shifts in Its Presentation

January 15, 2012–

Documerica, Lost and Found

January 15, 2012–Read this excerpt from the Winter issue of SEJournal, about EPA's long dormant photojournalism project containing thousands of color photographs depicting a nation and its environmental problems in the early 1970s — and the new State of the Environment Photo Project this rediscovery has spawned, inviting participants worldwide to submit their work. By SEJournal photo editor Roger Archibald.

Exploring the Narrative Form

January 15, 2012–