Publication Items

Sunshine Week, March 10-16, Shines Flashlight on Dark Corners of Government [1]

Sunshine Week is a great opportunity for journalists to do the most important part of the job: spotlighting the very news that government officials are uncomfortable about disclosing. The website includes examples of good freedom-of-information stories, permission-free cartoons, logos and icons, and many all-purpose story ideas.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Journalism & Media [3]
Government [4]
Visibility:
Public [5]
- Read more about Sunshine Week, March 10-16, Shines Flashlight on Dark Corners of Government [1]
Group Sues California over Enforcement of Fracking Disclosure [6]

The Arizona-based Center for Biological Diversity filed suit in Alameda County Superior Court charging that the California Department of Conservation's Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources was not following the state's own law.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Energy & Fuel [7]
Chemicals [8]
Laws & Regulations [9]
Region:
California [10]
Visibility:
Public [5]
- Read more about Group Sues California over Enforcement of Fracking Disclosure [6]
Climate Assessment Revives Memories of White House Science Suppression [11]

The release this month of the draft National Climate Assessment garnered many headlines. But little notice went to the fact that it was released at all. Earlier versions of this assessment of climate change's impacts on the U.S. were suppressed — and even "unpublished". But a few voices did take note of the Assessment's release.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Government [4]
Climate Change [12]
Science [13]
Visibility:
Public [5]
- Read more about Climate Assessment Revives Memories of White House Science Suppression [11]
Children's Health Report Released after Reporter Exposes OMB Blockade [14]

Sunlight cures many ills. A month after watchdog Sheila Kaplan exposed a White House blackout of an EPA report on children's environmental health, the Obama administration uncorked it. Of course, the timing may have had something to do with the election as well; EPA announced its publication January 25, just a few days after the inauguration.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Health [15]
Government [4]
Environmental Politics [16]
Environmental Health [17]
Visibility:
Public [5]
- Read more about Children's Health Report Released after Reporter Exposes OMB Blockade [14]
Analysis: Obama’s Second Term — Enviro Breakthrough or Train Wreck? [18]

Peter Dykstra's analysis helps environmental journalists sort through the convergence of money, politics, ideology and nature.
SEJ Publication Types:
Features [20]
Topics on the Beat:
Climate Change [12]
Economy & Business [21]
Energy & Fuel [7]
Environmental Politics [16]
Visibility:
Public [5]
- Read more about Analysis: Obama’s Second Term — Enviro Breakthrough or Train Wreck? [18]
SEJournal Winter 2012-13, Vol. 22 No. 4 [19]

In this issue: Superstorm Sandy's hidden warning; analysis of pivotal enviro issues to watch; new frontiers in visual journalism; keeping up on chemical databases; members helping members: SEJ's mentoring program; media on the move; and book reviews.

SEJ Publication Types:
SEJournal Online [22]
Topics on the Beat:
Disasters [23]
Environmental Politics [16]
Journalism & Media [3]
Technology [24]
Visibility:
Public [5]
- Read more about SEJournal Winter 2012-13, Vol. 22 No. 4 [19]
EPA Allows Drinking Water Reports Online — But Can Consumers Hack It? [25]

EPA bowed to industry, ruling in a January 3, 2013 memo that local drinking water utilities no longer have to notify their customers of contamination in writing. "The memo fails to set clear standards for electronic notification and delivery and makes it likely that segments of the public will have less access to these reports," the Center for Effective Government wrote in response to the EPA memo.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Water & Oceans [26]
Pollution [27]
Government [4]
Consumer [28]
Visibility:
Public [5]
- Read more about EPA Allows Drinking Water Reports Online — But Can Consumers Hack It? [25]
Political Appointees Bared To Journos in Digital "Plum Book" [29]

The Plum Book, a list of most major federal political appointments that is published every four years, has long been a starting point for juicy stories — but hard to use because it was only published in print. Now it has been digitized. That makes it grist for data journalists.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Technology [24]
Government [4]
Visibility:
Public [5]
- Read more about Political Appointees Bared To Journos in Digital "Plum Book" [29]
J-Groups Urge Supreme Court To Toss Va. Ban on Out-of-State FOIA Requesters [30]

Should state freedom-of-information laws disqualify people or organizations from out of state from getting government records? Led by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, some 53 news media groups have urged the US Supreme Court to say no.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Journalism & Media [3]
Government [4]
Region:
Mid-Atlantic (DC DE MD PA VA WV) [31]
Visibility:
Public [5]
- Read more about J-Groups Urge Supreme Court To Toss Va. Ban on Out-of-State FOIA Requesters [30]
Open-Access Science Publishing: Good for Journalists, and Good for Public [32]

The suicide earlier this month of open-access activist Aaron Swartz brings again to the fore the ongoing difficulty journalists have accessing published scientific studies that bear on key current and future policy issues. Photo of Swartz, credit Flickr/peretzp.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Science [13]
Policy [33]
Government [4]
Activism [34]
Visibility:
Public [5]
- Read more about Open-Access Science Publishing: Good for Journalists, and Good for Public [32]

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