Publication Items

Pennsylvania Blocks Report Criticizing Shale Gas [1]

Under law, Pennsylvania was supposed to publish a report outlining climate change impacts on the state by Spring 2012. But the Department of Environmental Protection says it is still being reviewed, and nobody will say when it might be published.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Energy & Fuel [3]
Climate Change [4]
Region:
Mid-Atlantic (DC DE MD PA VA WV) [5]
Visibility:
Public [6]
- Read more about Pennsylvania Blocks Report Criticizing Shale Gas [1]
Calif. Highway Patrol Sort of Backs Down — Questions Remain [7]

SEJ complained in an August 7 letter to CHP that the arrest of Willits News photog Steven Eberhard for attempting to document a protest was a violation of constitutionally guaranteed freedom of the press. CHP responded August 28, noting that its policies for news media access to the Willits highway bypass construction site had changed. However, several assertions in the letter are not true, according to Eberhard and a video of the incident. © Photo by Steve Eberhard: CHP arrests demonstrators Sept. 10, 2013, at the Willits, Calif., bypass construction site.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Laws & Regulations [8]
Journalism & Media [9]
Region:
California [10]
Visibility:
Public [6]
- Read more about Calif. Highway Patrol Sort of Backs Down — Questions Remain [7]
SEJ Protests Calif. Highway Patrol's Arrest of Photojournalist [11]

SEJ formally objected to the CHP's July 23, 2013, arrest of Willits News' Steve Eberhard for covering an environmental protest of highway bypass construction, saying the arrest is "unacceptable" and "directly contravenes the right to gather news that derives from the First Amendment."

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Journalism & Media [9]
Region:
California [10]
Visibility:
Public [6]
- Read more about SEJ Protests Calif. Highway Patrol's Arrest of Photojournalist [11]
EPA Staff Report Contradicts Agency's Agnosticism on Fracking [12]

Here's more evidence of why documents should be leaked to reporters: a Powerpoint obtained by LA Times' Neela Banerjee shows EPA's Region 3 staff argued a year ago for continuing its investigation of fracking pollution around Dimock, PA — as EPA HQ announced it was ending its study of Dimock wells. Now there's an echo in Pavillion, WY.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Government [13]
Environmental Politics [14]
Energy & Fuel [3]
Economy & Business [15]
Region:
Mid-Atlantic (DC DE MD PA VA WV) [5]
Visibility:
Public [6]
- Read more about EPA Staff Report Contradicts Agency's Agnosticism on Fracking [12]
Halliburton Admits Destroying Gulf Spill Evidence [16]

Journalists who worried about a cover-up during the April 2010 blowout of BP's Deepwater Horizon drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico got some vindication this month when Halliburton admitted to destroying evidence. The company agreed to pay $200,000 in fines and donate $55 million to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Water & Oceans [17]
Economy & Business [15]
Disasters [18]
Region:
SE (AL AR FL GA KY LA MS NC PR SC TN) [19]
Visibility:
Public [6]
- Read more about Halliburton Admits Destroying Gulf Spill Evidence [16]
Police Arrest California Photog at Highway Protest [20]

If the public can't see it, it didn't happen, right? That seems to be the logic of California officials who arrested a newspaper photographer for covering an environmental protest at the site where a highway overpass was being constructed and protesters had chained themselves to construction equipment.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Journalism & Media [9]
Region:
California [10]
Visibility:
Public [6]
- Read more about Police Arrest California Photog at Highway Protest [20]
Paragliding Photojournalist Arrested Near Kansas Feedlot [21]

Award-winning photojournalist George Steinmetz was arrested June 28, 2013, after flying a motorized paraglider over a cattle feedlot in Finney County, Kansas, while on assignment for National Geographic magazine.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Transportation [22]
Laws & Regulations [8]
Journalism & Media [9]
Agriculture [23]
Region:
Great Plains (IA KS ND NE MO SD) [24]
Visibility:
Public [6]
- Read more about Paragliding Photojournalist Arrested Near Kansas Feedlot [21]
Does Info on Pipeline Hazards Belong to Public They Endanger? [25]

A doughty, Pulitzer-winning publication is insisting the public has a right to know when pipeline companies are profiting by endangering people's lives, health, and property. InsideClimate News is pushing back against oil companies and federal regulators who say reports on pipeline flaws and hazards are trade secrets.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
People & Population [26]
Energy & Fuel [3]
Economy & Business [15]
Disasters [18]
Region:
National (U.S.) [27]
Visibility:
Public [6]
- Read more about Does Info on Pipeline Hazards Belong to Public They Endanger? [25]
Will CA Gov. Brown Veto Budget Bill with Rider Gutting FOI Law? [28]

[SEE UPDATE: Cal Assembly Walks Back CPRA Attack.] The last-minute sneak attack on open government was crafted and pushed through by Brown's own party. Local governments would be legally able to ignore the major requirements of the Public Records Law which force them to respond to freedom-of-information requests and justify any denial of requests.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Government [13]
Region:
California [10]
Visibility:
Public [6]
- Read more about Will CA Gov. Brown Veto Budget Bill with Rider Gutting FOI Law? [28]
Groups Oppose North Carolina "Ag-Gag" Bill [29]

NC's Senate is considering an industry-sponsored bill that would extend restrictions on undercover investigations beyond livestock operations to include other categories of industry. The state's Chamber of Commerce supports it, saying industries beyond agriculture want protection from the reporting of workplace abuses.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Laws & Regulations [8]
Agriculture [23]
Region:
SE (AL AR FL GA KY LA MS NC PR SC TN) [19]
Visibility:
Public [6]
- Read more about Groups Oppose North Carolina "Ag-Gag" Bill [29]

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