Publication Items

Climate Assessment Revives Memories of White House Science Suppression [1]

The release this month of the draft National Climate Assessment garnered many headlines. But little notice went to the fact that it was released at all. Earlier versions of this assessment of climate change's impacts on the U.S. were suppressed — and even "unpublished". But a few voices did take note of the Assessment's release.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Government [3]
Climate Change [4]
Science [5]
Visibility:
Public [6]
- Read more about Climate Assessment Revives Memories of White House Science Suppression [1]
Children's Health Report Released after Reporter Exposes OMB Blockade [7]

Sunlight cures many ills. A month after watchdog Sheila Kaplan exposed a White House blackout of an EPA report on children's environmental health, the Obama administration uncorked it. Of course, the timing may have had something to do with the election as well; EPA announced its publication January 25, just a few days after the inauguration.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Health [8]
Government [3]
Environmental Politics [9]
Environmental Health [10]
Visibility:
Public [6]
- Read more about Children's Health Report Released after Reporter Exposes OMB Blockade [7]
EPA Allows Drinking Water Reports Online — But Can Consumers Hack It? [11]

EPA bowed to industry, ruling in a January 3, 2013 memo that local drinking water utilities no longer have to notify their customers of contamination in writing. "The memo fails to set clear standards for electronic notification and delivery and makes it likely that segments of the public will have less access to these reports," the Center for Effective Government wrote in response to the EPA memo.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Water & Oceans [12]
Pollution [13]
Government [3]
Consumer [14]
Visibility:
Public [6]
- Read more about EPA Allows Drinking Water Reports Online — But Can Consumers Hack It? [11]
Political Appointees Bared To Journos in Digital "Plum Book" [15]

The Plum Book, a list of most major federal political appointments that is published every four years, has long been a starting point for juicy stories — but hard to use because it was only published in print. Now it has been digitized. That makes it grist for data journalists.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Technology [16]
Government [3]
Visibility:
Public [6]
- Read more about Political Appointees Bared To Journos in Digital "Plum Book" [15]
J-Groups Urge Supreme Court To Toss Va. Ban on Out-of-State FOIA Requesters [17]

Should state freedom-of-information laws disqualify people or organizations from out of state from getting government records? Led by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, some 53 news media groups have urged the US Supreme Court to say no.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Journalism & Media [18]
Government [3]
Region:
Mid-Atlantic (DC DE MD PA VA WV) [19]
Visibility:
Public [6]
- Read more about J-Groups Urge Supreme Court To Toss Va. Ban on Out-of-State FOIA Requesters [17]
Open-Access Science Publishing: Good for Journalists, and Good for Public [20]

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.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Science [5]
Policy [21]
Government [3]
Activism [22]
Visibility:
Public [6]
- Read more about Open-Access Science Publishing: Good for Journalists, and Good for Public [20]
Why Does Congress Keep CRS Reports Secret? One Possible Answer [23]

Congress' motives for the nondisclosure bear scrutiny. Is it merely to sound smart or hog the glory of releasing them? A recent report by Manuel Quinones in E&E Daily suggests another motive: fiddling with inconvenient truths (or untruths).

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Government [3]
Visibility:
Public [6]
- Read more about Why Does Congress Keep CRS Reports Secret? One Possible Answer [23]
EPA Withdraws Rule on Reporting Cadmium Health Studies [24]

EPA had on December 3, 2012, published a final rule requiring reporting of unpublished cadmium-related health and safety studies by manufacturers and importers. This rule prompted industry objections, resulting in EPA's withdrawal of the rule less than 2 weeks later.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Health [8]
Government [3]
Economy & Business [25]
Visibility:
Public [6]
- Read more about EPA Withdraws Rule on Reporting Cadmium Health Studies [24]
At Industry Urging, White House Buries Report on Toxic Threats to Children's Health [26]

If you want to know the latest on what chemicals might give your kids learning disabilities, asthma, and other health problems, the White House Office of Management and Budget intends to keep you in the dark. It has buried since March 2011 the 3rd edition of EPA's report "America's Children and the Environment."

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Health [8]
Government [3]
Economy & Business [25]
Chemicals [27]
Visibility:
Public [6]
- Read more about At Industry Urging, White House Buries Report on Toxic Threats to Children's Health [26]
SEJ Backs Member Threatened by Interior Secretary [28]

The Society of Environmental Journalists wrote Interior Secretary Ken Salazar about the Election Day incident of attempted intimidation in Colorado, when the Secretary threatened to "punch out" SEJ member Dave Philipps, senior investigative reporter with the Colorado Springs Gazette.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Journalism & Media [18]
Government [3]
Region:
Mountain West (CO ID MT NV UT WY) [29]
Visibility:
Public [6]
- Read more about SEJ Backs Member Threatened by Interior Secretary [28]

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