Publication Items

Transparency Watch Project Raises Serious Concerns About Government Access [1]

SEJ President Carolyn Whetzel discusses a recent project by Columbia Journalism Review and ProPublica which revealed it’s not just SEJ members who have a tough time gaining access to federal information or scheduling interviews with scientists or other experts at federal agencies.

SEJ Publication Types:
SEJ Presidents Report [2]
Visibility:
Public [3]
- Read more about Transparency Watch Project Raises Serious Concerns About Government Access [1]
Despite High Court, Navy Keeps WA Town in Dark on Explosion Threat [4]

A landmark Supreme Court decision awarded Port Townsend residents the right to know about the potential location of explosives on the Indian Island Naval Magazine near their town. After losing the case, the Defense Department bolstered its legal grounds for secrecy by asking Congress to slip into the 2012 Defense Authorization an amendment creating a new statutory exemption to FOIA for the DOD.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [5]
Topics on the Beat:
Military [6]
Laws & Regulations [7]
Disasters [8]
Region:
Northwest (OR WA) [9]
Visibility:
Public [3]
- Read more about Despite High Court, Navy Keeps WA Town in Dark on Explosion Threat [4]
Should Taxpayers Be Able To Read the Research They Pay For? Congress Not Sure [10]

A bill that would mandate open public access, free of charge, to papers resulting from federally funded research is currently languishing in the GOP-controlled House. Private for-profit publishing companies aim to stop it, preserving their control over the science publishing market. One of these is Elsevier, the largest single academic publisher in the world, currently being boycotted by almost 7,000 researchers worldwide.
SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [5]
Topics on the Beat:
Environmental Politics [11]
Visibility:
Public [3]
- Read more about Should Taxpayers Be Able To Read the Research They Pay For? Congress Not Sure [10]
Mining Industry Threatens Journals To Keep Diesel Exposure Data Secret [12]

The Patton Boggs lobbying firm, which represents the mining industry, has sent letters threatening unspecified legal action against four scientific journals if they publish results of a study about the exposure of miners to diesel emissions, according to Science magazine.
SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [5]
Topics on the Beat:
Natural Resources [13]
Energy & Fuel [14]
Economy & Business [15]
Visibility:
Public [3]
- Read more about Mining Industry Threatens Journals To Keep Diesel Exposure Data Secret [12]
Read the Secret Backgrounder on the Secret 2012 Farm Bill [16]

This year's Farm Bill deliberations have been less transparent than ever before. In that spirit, SEJ's WatchDog shares a backgrounder, published by the Federation of American Scientists, on the 2012 Farm Bill done by the Congressional Research Service — which keeps their taxpayer-funded reports secret from the public.
SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [5]
Topics on the Beat:
Laws & Regulations [7]
Environmental Politics [11]
Agriculture [17]
Visibility:
Public [3]
- Read more about Read the Secret Backgrounder on the Secret 2012 Farm Bill [16]
Reporters, Researchers at AAAS Say Canada Muzzles Climate Scientists [18]

The complaints came out at the Vancouver meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) this month — the main multidisciplinary science conference held yearly on the continent. Also during the meeting, a letter from six journalism and science groups called on Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to end the muzzling-scientists policy was released.
SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [5]
Topics on the Beat:
Science [19]
Climate Change [20]
Region:
Canada [21]
Visibility:
Public [3]
- Read more about Reporters, Researchers at AAAS Say Canada Muzzles Climate Scientists [18]
Miami According to Helvarg [22]

SEJ Publication Types:
SEJ News [23]
Region:
SE (AL AR FL GA KY LA MS NC PR SC TN) [24]
Visibility:
Public [3]
- Read more about Miami According to Helvarg [22]
Exploring the Narrative Form [25]

SEJ Publication Types:
Features [26]
Topics on the Beat:
Journalism & Media [27]
Visibility:
Public [3]
- Read more about Exploring the Narrative Form [25]
Documerica, Lost and Found [28]

Read about EPA's long dormant photojournalism project containing thousands of color photographs depicting a nation and its environmental problems in the early 1970s — and the new State of the Environment Photo Project this rediscovery has spawned, inviting participants worldwide to submit their work. By SEJournal photo editor Roger Archibald.

SEJ Publication Types:
Features [26]
Topics on the Beat:
Journalism & Media [27]
Natural Resources [13]
People & Population [30]
Region:
National (U.S.) [31]
Visibility:
Public [3]
- Read more about Documerica, Lost and Found [28]
USFS Offers Climate Change Bird Atlas [32]

The atlas — a database actually — is based partly on climate-related changes in tree cover. It maps out current distribution of 147 species and modeled distribution resulting from climate change.
SEJ Publication Types:
TipSheet [33]
Topics on the Beat:
Wildlife [34]
Forests [35]
Climate Change [20]
Biodiversity [36]
Visibility:
Public [3]
- Read more about USFS Offers Climate Change Bird Atlas [32]

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