SEJ, SPJ Say Agency Media Obstacles Hurt Public Confidence in Water, Safety [1]
Journalists had trouble overcoming EPA and CDC press office obstacles and getting access to agency experts and officials during this month's drinking water contamination crisis in Charleston, WV. SEJ and the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) have sent a letter of complaint to heads of both agencies and their press offices. We urge them to adopt specific practices to end press office stonewalling and increase transparency, especially in times of crisis.
[UPDATE: Reply of January 29, 2014, from EPA [2] Assoc. Adm. for Ext. Affairs Tom Reynolds]
[UPDATE: Reply of January 22, 2014, from CDC [3] Public Affairs Director Barbara Reynolds]
[UPDATE: "CDC: Pregnant Women Should Have Been Warned About Water Sooner [4]," Charleston Gazette, January 22, 2014, by Ken Ward Jr.]


SEJ is now collecting tax-deductible gifts earmarked for environmental journalists in the Philippines. SEJ board member Imelda Abano, president of the Philippine Network of Environmental Journalists, said after visiting the devastated country, "We've seen too much. Colleagues need our help, our immediate assistance. Let’s give them hope, and the support of fellow journalists." Photo (R): Many journalists lived in this once-subdivision, now an ocean of debris.
