Publication Items

Taking the Chaos out of Your Disaster Coverage [1]

SEJ Publication Types:
Reporters Toolbox [2]
Visibility:
Public [3]
- Read more about Taking the Chaos out of Your Disaster Coverage [1]
More Secret Reports from Congressional Research Service [4]

Nobody has ever explained why Congress refuses to release the tax-funded explainers produced by the Congressional Research Service. They are a gold standard for journalists needing quick background. Here are some recent CRS reports relevant to environmental journalists, helpfully released by the Federation of American Scientists.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [5]
Topics on the Beat:
Climate Change [6]
Disasters [7]
Energy & Fuel [8]
Government [9]
Health [10]
Natural Resources [11]
Nuclear Power & Radiation [12]
Water & Oceans [13]
Visibility:
Public [3]
- Read more about More Secret Reports from Congressional Research Service [4]
Waiting for Ansel Adams: Will 114th Congress Legalize Park Photography? [14]

You may have read in recent WatchDogs about controversial federal laws and rules that could restrict photojournalism in federal parks, forests, and rangelands. Now comes the "Ansel Adams bill" that would make it legal to do an activity that is Constitutionally protected. Only someone has to introduce the bill. Photo: Ansel Adams, by J. Malcolm Greany. [15]

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [5]
Topics on the Beat:
Journalism & Media [16]
Laws & Regulations [17]
Natural Resources [11]
Visibility:
Public [3]
- Read more about Waiting for Ansel Adams: Will 114th Congress Legalize Park Photography? [14]
Groups Sue EPA for Data on Toxic Fracking Chemicals [18]

The industry got Congress in 2005 to block the public from knowing about these chemicals, which can end up in people's drinking water. But the enviro groups, led by the Environmental Integrity Project, want to use a different law to help unlock the data.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [5]
Topics on the Beat:
Chemicals [19]
Energy & Fuel [8]
Laws & Regulations [17]
Pollution [20]
Visibility:
Public [3]
- Read more about Groups Sue EPA for Data on Toxic Fracking Chemicals [18]
Arrest of Four Near Hog Farm Tests Utah's "Ag Gag" Law [21]

One way to deal with bad press is to make it illegal. Exposés of inhumane conditions at feedlots and slaughterhouses are being made illegal by state legislatures that pass "ag gag" laws. Now a case in Utah is challenging whether industrial agriculture's claims of secrecy trump the eating public's right to know. Image: Sows in 7'x2' Smithfield Foods gestation crates. By Humane Society of the US [CC], 2010. [22]

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [5]
Topics on the Beat:
Activism [23]
Agriculture [24]
Consumer [25]
Health [10]
Journalism & Media [16]
Laws & Regulations [17]
Pollution [20]
Region:
Mountain West (CO ID MT NV UT WY) [26]
Northwest (OR WA) [27]
Visibility:
Public [3]
- Read more about Arrest of Four Near Hog Farm Tests Utah's "Ag Gag" Law [21]
Celebrating 25 Years, Fluff Free [28]

In this last column of his SEJ presidency, Don Hopey addresses the environment beat's necessity and SEJ’s role in it by focusing on two events, one just past, the other approaching quickly.

SEJ Publication Types:
SEJ Presidents Report [29]
Topics on the Beat:
Journalism & Media [16]
Visibility:
Public [3]
- Read more about Celebrating 25 Years, Fluff Free [28]
Decades of Petrochemical Industry Documents on Hiding Toxicity in Online Archive [30]

The Center for Public Integrity, Columbia University, and City University of New York have just published some 20,000 pages of hitherto unpublished letters, e-mails, presentations, and meeting minutes from the oil and chemical industries in a public database, called "Exposed: Decades of Denial on Poisons."

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [5]
Topics on the Beat:
Chemicals [19]
Consumer [25]
Energy & Fuel [8]
Health [10]
Pollution [20]
Visibility:
Public [3]
- Read more about Decades of Petrochemical Industry Documents on Hiding Toxicity in Online Archive [30]
Ohio Utilities Seek To Keep Reasons for Public "Bailout" Secret from Public [31]

Three major electric utilities want the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) to make ratepayers pay for aging and unprofitable coal and nuclear generation plants in that state. But the ratepayers — the utilities claim — aren't entitled to know whether they might be ripped off.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [5]
Topics on the Beat:
Consumer [25]
Economy & Business [32]
Energy & Fuel [8]
Nuclear Power & Radiation [12]
Region:
Great Lakes (IL IN MI MN OH WI) [33]
Visibility:
Public [3]
- Read more about Ohio Utilities Seek To Keep Reasons for Public "Bailout" Secret from Public [31]
Foreign Agents May Cloak Environmental Stories [34]

Environmental journalists can find important stories using data about lobbyists registered under the Foreign Agents Registration Act to work for foreign firms and governments. The Sunlight Foundation and other groups have compiled some of the information into a searchable online database — a starting point for finding enviro and energy stories.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [5]
Topics on the Beat:
Economy & Business [32]
Environmental Politics [35]
Laws & Regulations [17]
Region:
International [36]
Visibility:
Public [3]
- Read more about Foreign Agents May Cloak Environmental Stories [34]
FOIA Reform Is Dead; Long Live FOIA Reform [37]

Legislation to strengthen the Freedom of Information Act, a key journalist's tool, died in the final hours of the do-nothing 113th Congress — but hopes remain that the coming 114th Congress could pass the bipartisan package. The bill's Senate passage was delayed by a "hold" placed on it by retiring Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), whose reasons were not clearly explained but were apparently due to banking interests' fears.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [5]
Topics on the Beat:
Economy & Business [32]
Government [9]
Visibility:
Public [3]
- Read more about FOIA Reform Is Dead; Long Live FOIA Reform [37]

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