Publication Items

High-Hazard Chem Plants — Can Secrecy Substitute for Safety? [1]

Reflexive secrecy has been a hallmark of government efforts to deal with highly hazardous chemical facilities in recent decades. Another reminder of that secrecy came in an April 11, 2016, piece in Greenwire by Sam Pearson. Photo: [2] The fertilizer plant in West, Texas, that exploded in 2013, killing 15 people, by Shane Torgerson, courtesy of Wikipedia.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [3]
Topics on the Beat:
Chemicals [4]
Disasters [5]
Environmental Politics [6]
Visibility:
Public [7]
- Read more about High-Hazard Chem Plants — Can Secrecy Substitute for Safety? [1]
Climate Documentarian Motivated by the Heart [8]

“Gasland” filmmaker Josh Fox is back with what may be the longest film title in recent documentary history — “How to Let Go of the World (and Love All the Things Climate Can’t Change).” And it looks like another game-changer. JoAnn Valenti reviews the film

SEJ Publication Types:
Features [9]
Topics on the Beat:
Activism [10]
Climate Change [11]
Journalism & Media [12]
Visibility:
Public [7]
- Read more about Climate Documentarian Motivated by the Heart [8]
Toxic Chemicals in a Pinch: Some Help for Journalists [13]

If you are an environmental reporter, it is only a matter of time before a reader asks you, "What's up with pentachlorophenol?" Or a grouchy editor demands to know, "What's the difference between trichloroethylene and trichloroethane?" Help is on the way. Read on.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [3]
Topics on the Beat:
Chemicals [4]
Visibility:
Public [7]
- Read more about Toxic Chemicals in a Pinch: Some Help for Journalists [13]
Pavillion, Wyo., Fracking Study Unplugged with FOIA [14]

In 2011, EPA produced — and subsequently buried — a draft report on fracking contamination at Pavillion, Wyoming. Now one of the authors of the original draft has co-published a review of the research in the independent journal Environmental Science & Technology. The new study, based on FOIA'd documents, links fracking and polluted wells.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [3]
Topics on the Beat:
Energy & Fuel [15]
Environmental Politics [6]
Pollution [16]
Water & Oceans [17]
Region:
Mountain West (CO ID MT NV UT WY) [18]
Visibility:
Public [7]
- Read more about Pavillion, Wyo., Fracking Study Unplugged with FOIA [14]
Nine Years After Request for FEMA Katrina Records: Nothing [19]

The Project on Government Oversight FOIA'd FEMA/DHS in 2006 for documents that might reveal hanky-panky with billions of dollars in Hurricane Katrina recovery contracts. In December 2015, DHS finally wrote POGO to say that disclosing the records would constitute an "unwarranted invasion of privacy."

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [3]
Topics on the Beat:
Disasters [5]
Economy & Business [20]
Environmental Politics [6]
Region:
SE (AL AR FL GA KY LA MS NC PR SC TN) [21]
Visibility:
Public [7]
- Read more about Nine Years After Request for FEMA Katrina Records: Nothing [19]
Did Big Food Just Lose the GMO Disclosure War? [22]

Tens of millions have been spent on lobbying and advertising by the mainstream food industry to defeat a series of state-by-state measures requiring food labels to disclose GMO content. Now, Vermont is poised to implement a GMO-labelling law.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [3]
Topics on the Beat:
Food [23]
Laws & Regulations [24]
Region:
Northeast (CT MA ME NH NJ NY RI VT) [25]
Visibility:
Public [7]
- Read more about Did Big Food Just Lose the GMO Disclosure War? [22]
Senate Passes FOIA Improvement Bill [26]

The Senate March 15, 2016, unanimously passed a bill (S 337) improving the 50-year-old Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). But the appearance of bipartisan consensus may belie a rocky road to final enactment in a highly politicized election year.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [3]
Topics on the Beat:
Laws & Regulations [24]
Visibility:
Public [7]
- Read more about Senate Passes FOIA Improvement Bill [26]
The Path to Better Investigative Science Reporting [27]

In the latest Reporter's Toolbox, Climate Central senior science writer John Upton defines investigative science reporting’s major role, and shares his personal nine ways to do the job better.

SEJ Publication Types:
Reporters Toolbox [28]
Topics on the Beat:
Climate Change [11]
Forests [29]
Journalism & Media [12]
Region:
National (U.S.) [30]
Europe [31]
Visibility:
Public [7]
- Read more about The Path to Better Investigative Science Reporting [27]
Finding the Right Fit for Journalism Fellowships [32]

For this edition of EJ Academy, MU journalism master's grad Caleb O'Brien surveyed SEJ academics and current and former students to get tips on finding the best internships — and making the most of the experience. Excerpted from the Spring 2016 SEJournal.

SEJ Publication Types:
EJ Academy [33]
Visibility:
Public [7]
- Read more about Finding the Right Fit for Journalism Fellowships [32]
Will Journalists Heed the Lessons of Flint? [34]

SEJ’s WatchDog Project director Joseph A. Davis analyzes local and regional media's role in reporting — or not — the Flint water debacle.

SEJ Publication Types:
Inside Story [35]
Topics on the Beat:
Chemicals [4]
Environmental Politics [6]
Health [36]
Water & Oceans [17]
Region:
Great Lakes (IL IN MI MN OH WI) [37]
Visibility:
Public [7]
- Read more about Will Journalists Heed the Lessons of Flint? [34]

Pages