Publication Items

When News Embargoes May Endanger Public Health [1]

When NPR's David Schultz wanted to report last month on whether extra mumps vaccinations given in 2009 to Jewish children in the NYC area had worked or had side effects, he ran up against an embargo imposed by the journal Pediatrics. If you worry about how embargoes affect journalists' access, you may want to follow Embargo Watch.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Journalism & Media [3]
Health [4]
Visibility:
Public [5]
- Read more about When News Embargoes May Endanger Public Health [1]
Some Resources for Covering Environmental Disasters [6]

Superstorm Sandy was a wake-up call on many levels — especially as a lesson on the need to be prepared for disasters. Here are some reporting tools that may come in handy.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Journalism & Media [3]
Disasters [7]
Visibility:
Public [5]
- Read more about Some Resources for Covering Environmental Disasters [6]
Secret CRS Reports on Environmental Topics Published [8]

Here are more Congressional Research Service reports relevant to the environment/energy beat, published by the Federation of American Scientists' Project on Government Secrecy.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Transportation [9]
Energy & Fuel [10]
Disasters [7]
Visibility:
Public [5]
- Read more about Secret CRS Reports on Environmental Topics Published [8]
Traveling Florida’s Lost Wildlife Highways [11]

Freelance writer and photographer Roger Archibald tells the tale of the 2012 Florida Wildlife Corridor Expedition, which sought to reclaim a tenuous natural migratory route that the state’s surviving endemic wildlife might once again follow.

SEJ Publication Types:
Features [13]
Topics on the Beat:
Natural Resources [14]
Planning & Growth [15]
Transportation [9]
Wildlife [16]
Region:
SE (AL AR FL GA KY LA MS NC PR SC TN) [17]
Visibility:
Public [5]
- Read more about Traveling Florida’s Lost Wildlife Highways [11]
State, Federal Whistleblower Rules a Key Tool for Journalists [18]

Watchdog group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility's new guide to state whistleblower laws starts with a map — click on any state to link to its whistleblower law and other related info. Federally, there is currently a bill in play in Congress which would strengthen the notoriously weak federal whistleblower protections.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Laws & Regulations [19]
Journalism & Media [3]
Government [20]
Visibility:
Public [5]
- Read more about State, Federal Whistleblower Rules a Key Tool for Journalists [18]
Groups Petition EPA To Disclose Fracking Emissions [21]

The gas industry won itself an exemption from disclosure requirements of the Safe Drinking Water Act in 2005. But now environmentalists have a new angle, claiming EPA has authority to compel disclosure under a different law (the Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act) — and urging EPA to use it.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Water & Oceans [22]
Government [20]
Energy & Fuel [10]
Visibility:
Public [5]
- Read more about Groups Petition EPA To Disclose Fracking Emissions [21]
Journalists Complain About PIO "Minders" [23]

Gripes about PIO policies are not new. Now an article in the Society of Professional Journalists' Quill magazine takes the complaint to a higher level, arguing PIO restrictions are not aimed at access and accuracy, and urging journalists to resist the PIO requirements in their own work — and to work together nationally to elevate the PIO censorship issue.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Journalism & Media [3]
Environmental Politics [24]
Visibility:
Public [5]
- Read more about Journalists Complain About PIO "Minders" [23]
Enviros Urge EPA Not To Weaken Drinking Water Reports [25]

Fifteen environmental and public health groups say EPA had not allowed sufficient time for public review, only put relevant information into its docket at the last minute, and emphasized easing a "burden" utilities had lived with for years at the expense of protecting the public.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Water & Oceans [22]
Laws & Regulations [19]
Health [4]
Government [20]
Activism [26]
Visibility:
Public [5]
- Read more about Enviros Urge EPA Not To Weaken Drinking Water Reports [25]
Feds Trust Private Contractors To Make Calls on FOIA Secrets [27]

Danielle Ivory reports for Bloomberg: "At least 25 federal agencies are outsourcing parts of the FOIA process. The contractors, sometimes using workers with security clearances, are building FOIA software, corresponding with requesters, redacting documents and recommending what information should be withheld."

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Government [20]
Economy & Business [28]
Visibility:
Public [5]
- Read more about Feds Trust Private Contractors To Make Calls on FOIA Secrets [27]
Reporters Committee Offers Guide to FOIA Appeals Process [29]

RCFP's new online guide to appealing federal FOIA decisions, written by smart, experienced media lawyers, "will be particularly useful to independent journalists and those at news organizations who don’t have ready access to legal counsel to help file appeals."

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Journalism & Media [3]
Government [20]
Visibility:
Public [5]
- Read more about Reporters Committee Offers Guide to FOIA Appeals Process [29]

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