Publication Items

Legal Battle Looms on Drone Newsgathering [1]

Will the Federal Aviation Administration make drone journalism illegal? The first answer is likely to come soon. Connecticut journalist Pedro Rivera filed suit February 18, 2014, against Hartford police officers who he said violated his First Amendment rights to gather news.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Journalism & Media [3]
Technology [4]
Visibility:
Public [5]
- Read more about Legal Battle Looms on Drone Newsgathering [1]
EWG Database Helps Public, Journos Find Drinking Water Threats [6]

While EPA and local utilities make much data available online, the Environmental Working Group has compiled a tap water database that is much easier to use. It gathers data from the states as well as from EPA, and compiles city-by-city rankings of the best and worst drinking water quality. It also explains the health significance of contaminants and lists contaminants not regulated by EPA.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Water & Oceans [7]
Technology [4]
Laws & Regulations [8]
Health [9]
Region:
Mid-Atlantic (DC DE MD PA VA WV) [10]
Visibility:
Public [5]
- Read more about EWG Database Helps Public, Journos Find Drinking Water Threats [6]
FAA Nixes Drones for Journos [11]

Drones might count as new media — and certainly have journalistic uses in covering everything from prairie fires to chemical emergencies. The federal government, which devotes enormous technical resources to spying on its citizens, now says this is illegal. The Federal Aviation Administration issued the ruling, saying there was no grey area: hobbyists can legally fly video drones. But journalists can not. Image: Cade Cleavelin, a science/ag journalism senior at U of Missouri, demonstrates a DJY Phantom quadcopter at the 2013 SEJ Conference in Chattanooga, TN. © Roger Archibald.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Technology [4]
Laws & Regulations [8]
Journalism & Media [3]
Government [12]
Visibility:
Public [5]
- Read more about FAA Nixes Drones for Journos [11]
The Promise of Flight: Drones and Environmental Journalism [13]

SEJ Publication Types:
Features [14]
Topics on the Beat:
Journalism & Media [3]
Technology [4]
Visibility:
Public [5]
- Read more about The Promise of Flight: Drones and Environmental Journalism [13]
Secret CRS Reports on Environment Published [15]

Taxpayers' money funds the Congressional Research Service as it produces objective and authoritative reports on issues facing Congress — many on subjects of interest to environmental journalists. Congress, however, does not share these reports with the public who paid for them. Thanks to the Project on Government Secrecy, another batch of the reports has been leaked and published.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Technology [4]
Natural Resources [16]
Laws & Regulations [8]
Government [12]
Energy & Fuel [17]
Visibility:
Public [5]
- Read more about Secret CRS Reports on Environment Published [15]
ECHO 2.0 Database Gives Environmental Gumshoes a Better Clue [18]

Got scofflaw polluters in your audience area? Are they owned by political fat cats? Is EPA cutting them more slack than they deserve? Such questions are easier to answer thanks to a recent upgrade of the Environmental Protection Agency's ECHO database, a key tool for environmental investigative reporters.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Technology [4]
Pollution [19]
Visibility:
Public [5]
- Read more about ECHO 2.0 Database Gives Environmental Gumshoes a Better Clue [18]
Toolbox: Scraping App for the Digital Gumshoe [20]

Try this free, open-source add-on to Mozilla's Firefox web browser for "web-scraping" — meaning a methodical effort to capture data disclosed on the web and put it into useable form, typically a database.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Technology [4]
Visibility:
Public [5]
- Read more about Toolbox: Scraping App for the Digital Gumshoe [20]
EPA Science Databases Offer Grist for Environmental Journalists [21]

Science is the key to many environmental stories, and EPA's Office of Research and Development (ORD) offers a wide range of data tools journalists may find worthwhile to explore.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Technology [4]
Science [22]
Government [12]
Visibility:
Public [5]
- Read more about EPA Science Databases Offer Grist for Environmental Journalists [21]
Toolbox: EPA "Data Finder" May Aid in Some Reporting Projects [23]

If you want to take advantage of EPA databases to report on local (or even national) environmental conditions, this tool is a step beyond the all-in-one EPA data interfaces many journalists are used to, in that it catalogs some of the less-known specialized databases. It is unusual among government data programs in that it explicitly encourages third-party developers to build apps based on open agency data.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Technology [4]
Government [12]
Visibility:
Public [5]
- Read more about Toolbox: EPA "Data Finder" May Aid in Some Reporting Projects [23]
Broken Promise: Database Helps Track Illegal Parkland Conversions [24]

InvestigateWest's Robert McClure and Jason Alcorn explain how to spin the local angle about how parks built or improved with money from the Land and Water Conservation Fund are increasingly being illegally privatized or converted to something other than parks — including sharing their searchable database of almost 40,000 park grants.

SEJ Publication Types:
Reporters Toolbox [26]
Topics on the Beat:
Laws & Regulations [8]
Natural Resources [16]
Technology [4]
Region:
National (U.S.) [27]
Visibility:
Public [5]
- Read more about Broken Promise: Database Helps Track Illegal Parkland Conversions [24]

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