Publication Items

Will Your Journalism Matter in the Year 2514? [1]

In this excerpt from the latest issue of SEJournal (Summer), Youngstown State University's Marc Seamon experimented in his undergraduate journalism classes last year with a self-guided project that would allow students to investigate the social-responsibility role of the media, particularly regarding the long-term implications of events and issues they cover. See the eye-opening results here. [1]

SEJ Publication Types:
EJ Academy [2]
Visibility:
Public [3]
- Read more about Will Your Journalism Matter in the Year 2514? [1]
SEJ FOI Chair Talks to Forest Service Chief Tidwell [4]

After proposing a directive that seemed to require permits and fees for journalists working in U.S. Forest Service wilderness lands, the USFS announced that it had never intended the restrictions to apply to journalists. Tim Wheeler, chairman of the Society of Environmental Journalists' Freedom of Information Task Force, talked with USFS Chief TomTidwell to clarify the USFS position. Here's his report. [5]

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [6]
Topics on the Beat:
Forests [7]
Journalism & Media [8]
Laws & Regulations [9]
Region:
National (U.S.) [10]
Visibility:
Public [3]
- Read more about SEJ FOI Chair Talks to Forest Service Chief Tidwell [4]
How Does Obama Block Open Info? AP Counts the Ways [11]

Three major journalism groups held a joint convention in Chicago September 15-17, 2014, which included a panel discussion on Obama administration secrecy. News industry leaders used the occasion to point out that the Obama administration's deeds and practices did not match its claims of transparency.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [6]
Topics on the Beat:
Government [12]
Journalism & Media [8]
Visibility:
Public [3]
- Read more about How Does Obama Block Open Info? AP Counts the Ways [11]
Pipeline Data, Maps Could Be a Reporting Resource — If Open [13]

There are many good investigative stories to be done about natural gas pipelines in your local area. You can get some maps and data about these pipelines if you try. Hard. The government is not going to help too much. One resource is the National Pipeline Mapping System (NPMS), which allows the general public to see geodata on a county-by-county basis.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [6]
Topics on the Beat:
Energy & Fuel [14]
Planning & Growth [15]
Visibility:
Public [3]
- Read more about Pipeline Data, Maps Could Be a Reporting Resource — If Open [13]
Constitution Wins After Court Imposes Prior Restraint on Pipeline Safety Info [16]

As a nationwide newspaper chain probed safety threats posed to the public by gas pipelines, an Alabama court imposed prior restraint on the Montgomery Advertiser, to prevent it from publishing the Alabama Gas Corporation's safety plan, citing homeland security and trade secrets. Now a judge has ruled that the court erred in granting a temporary restraining order.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [6]
Topics on the Beat:
Disasters [17]
Energy & Fuel [14]
Journalism & Media [8]
Laws & Regulations [9]
People & Population [18]
Region:
National (U.S.) [10]
SE (AL AR FL GA KY LA MS NC PR SC TN) [19]
Visibility:
Public [3]
- Read more about Constitution Wins After Court Imposes Prior Restraint on Pipeline Safety Info [16]
Forest Service Seeks To Limit Journalists' Access to Wilderness Lands [20]

The U.S. Forest Service is seeking to harden rules that would require a journalist to get a permit and pay a fee of up to $1,500 in order to report inside a federal wilderness. [Update -- 9/25/14: Forest Service Chief Tidwell says media don't need permit] [21]

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [6]
Topics on the Beat:
Forests [7]
Journalism & Media [8]
Laws & Regulations [9]
Region:
National (U.S.) [10]
Visibility:
Public [3]
- Read more about Forest Service Seeks To Limit Journalists' Access to Wilderness Lands [20]
Interior Coal Lease Data Not Available Online [22]

You — as an owner (one of 314 million) of the coal reserves on federal land — might want to know whether the Bureau of Land Management is getting a fair return for your property when it is sold to a coal company. Good luck with that. Certainly, there is a database of federal coal lease activity. It's just that you would have a really hard time getting to it.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [6]
Topics on the Beat:
Economy & Business [23]
Energy & Fuel [14]
Environmental Politics [24]
Visibility:
Public [3]
- Read more about Interior Coal Lease Data Not Available Online [22]
Obama Admin Hides KXL Wildlife Impact Documents [25]

An environmental group is suing the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for denying a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for information on the impacts of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline on whooping cranes, piping plovers and other endangered species. Photo: Piping plover/USFWS.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [6]
Topics on the Beat:
Biodiversity [26]
Energy & Fuel [14]
Government [12]
Wildlife [27]
Visibility:
Public [3]
- Read more about Obama Admin Hides KXL Wildlife Impact Documents [25]
Firm Seeks To Silence Fracking Pollution Concerns with Defamation Suit [28]

The video of Steve Lipsky setting his drinking water on fire nearly went viral on You Tube. The fracking company he thinks caused the problem is suing him for defamation. Now that case is headed for the Texas Supreme Court. Oral arguments are scheduled for December 4.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [6]
Topics on the Beat:
Chemicals [29]
Energy & Fuel [14]
Health [30]
Water & Oceans [31]
Region:
Southwest (AZ NM OK TX) [32]
Visibility:
Public [3]
- Read more about Firm Seeks To Silence Fracking Pollution Concerns with Defamation Suit [28]
White House Nears Decision Shielding Frack Chem Disclosure [33]

BLM has drafted a "final" rule — but that must be approved by the White House Office of Management and Budget, which often serves as a backroom channel for industry to change regulations. The final product — still undetermined — is likely to be a disappointment to those who had hoped for Obama administration leadership on fracking disclosure.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [6]
Topics on the Beat:
Chemicals [29]
Energy & Fuel [14]
Laws & Regulations [9]
Visibility:
Public [3]
- Read more about White House Nears Decision Shielding Frack Chem Disclosure [33]

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