Publication Items

Drillers Buy Silence on Health, Property Impacts of Fracking [1]

One reason proof of harm is hard to find is that drillers pay people to keep quiet. Now the unsealing of a once-confidential settlement in Pennsylvania gives a clear view of how the silencing works. The 17-page, two-year-old settlement agreement includes a $750,000 payment to a family critical of fracking, saying they became sick, as well as a gag order that applies to their 7- and 10-year-old children for the rest of their lives.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Water & Oceans [3]
Health [4]
Environmental Health [5]
Energy & Fuel [6]
Chemicals [7]
Visibility:
Public [8]
- Read more about Drillers Buy Silence on Health, Property Impacts of Fracking [1]
12 Tips for Getting Around the Press Office [9]

If you expect nothing from the press office, you will rarely be disappointed. Even getting a callback before your deadline is a major feat. Good stories rarely come from a call to the press office, but there are times when you have to call them. Even public affairs professionals admit that good reporters do their best to circumvent the public affairs people. Try these tips!

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Journalism & Media [10]
Government [11]
Visibility:
Public [8]
- Read more about 12 Tips for Getting Around the Press Office [9]
Are PAOs a Help or Hindrance? Press Club Debates [12]

Journalists of all stripes heard a panel debate: "Government Public Affairs Offices: More Hindrance Than Help?" August 12, 2013, at the National Press Club, with unsurprising results. The real news may have been presentation of results of a survey conducted by an assistant professor at Kennesaw State University. To risk summarizing in a headline: things are as bad as SEJ members have complained they are.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Journalism & Media [10]
Government [11]
Visibility:
Public [8]
- Read more about Are PAOs a Help or Hindrance? Press Club Debates [12]
SEJ Protests Calif. Highway Patrol's Arrest of Photojournalist [13]

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 [10]
Region:
California [14]
Visibility:
Public [8]
- Read more about SEJ Protests Calif. Highway Patrol's Arrest of Photojournalist [13]
Chemical Safety: Right-To-Know? No — Not Exactly [15]

The system for informing Americans about the threats to their health and safety posed by chemical plants is seriously broken, a Reuters investigation revealed August 10, 2013. Facilities often misidentify chemicals or their location, or fail to report the existence of the substances. But there are tools to help reporters.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Planning & Growth [16]
People & Population [17]
Laws & Regulations [18]
Health [4]
Disasters [19]
Chemicals [7]
Visibility:
Public [8]
- Read more about Chemical Safety: Right-To-Know? No — Not Exactly [15]
EPA Staff Report Contradicts Agency's Agnosticism on Fracking [20]

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 [11]
Environmental Politics [21]
Energy & Fuel [6]
Economy & Business [22]
Region:
Mid-Atlantic (DC DE MD PA VA WV) [23]
Visibility:
Public [8]
- Read more about EPA Staff Report Contradicts Agency's Agnosticism on Fracking [20]
Transparency Remains an Issue As McCarthy Takes EPA Helm [24]

House and Senate Republicans made a big deal over EPA "transparency" while McCarthy's nomination was being held up in the Senate, for 130 days. Then on July 9, 2013, the Senate Environment Committee's ranking minority member said he would drop his filibuster threat because EPA had agreed to some of his demands on transparency.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Government [11]
Environmental Politics [21]
Visibility:
Public [8]
- Read more about Transparency Remains an Issue As McCarthy Takes EPA Helm [24]
Halliburton Admits Destroying Gulf Spill Evidence [25]

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 [3]
Economy & Business [22]
Disasters [19]
Region:
SE (AL AR FL GA KY LA MS NC PR SC TN) [26]
Visibility:
Public [8]
- Read more about Halliburton Admits Destroying Gulf Spill Evidence [25]
Police Arrest California Photog at Highway Protest [27]

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 [10]
Region:
California [14]
Visibility:
Public [8]
- Read more about Police Arrest California Photog at Highway Protest [27]
If It’s Tuesday, This Must Be Guyana (Or Qatar, or France): How One Freelancer Supports a Travel Addiction [28]

Freelancer Erica Gies shares how she has created a "citizen of the world" reporting portfolio, gets paid to travel, and gains perspective on herself, her country and the common problems we all face.

SEJ Publication Types:
Freelance Files [30]
Topics on the Beat:
Journalism & Media [10]
Transportation [31]
Visibility:
Public [8]
- Read more about If It’s Tuesday, This Must Be Guyana (Or Qatar, or France): How One Freelancer Supports a Travel Addiction [28]

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