Publication Items

NFOIC Meets Amid New Open-Government Challenges of Digital Revolution

Investigative journalism is hardly about paper documents anymore. The cutting edge today is more likely to be requests for emails, as well as text messages, chats and other electronic communications such as Slack. This big challenge was front and center at the recent meeting of the National Freedom of Information Coalition.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet
Topics on the Beat:
Government
Laws & Regulations
Technology
Visibility:
Public
- Read more about NFOIC Meets Amid New Open-Government Challenges of Digital Revolution
Investigative Journalism Lives! — CMD Exposes GOP on Clean Air Plan

Patience, attention to detail, and public-records requests can still get you a bombshell story on the environmental beat. One recently tied coal and oil company megabucks to Republican attorneys general challenging the Clean Power Plan (CPP) in court.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet
Topics on the Beat:
Climate Change
Energy & Fuel
Environmental Politics
Visibility:
Public
- Read more about Investigative Journalism Lives! — CMD Exposes GOP on Clean Air Plan
Impaired Waters Lists: A Tool for Water Pollution Reporting

Summer algal blooms, seafood advisories, and beach closures remind us that water pollution has not gone away, and environmental journalists can still find loads of local and regional stories about it — if they dig. Here's a tool that can help. Image: © Clipart.com.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet
Topics on the Beat:
Pollution
Water & Oceans
Visibility:
Public
- Read more about Impaired Waters Lists: A Tool for Water Pollution Reporting
Pork Producers Win Appeal in CAFO Disclosure Case

In addition to nuisance smells, confined animal feeding operations (aka CAFOs) can present serious air and water pollution problems. They are weakly regulated. Now a federal appeals court says information on who owns those feedlots can be kept secret. Image: © Clipart.com.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet
Topics on the Beat:
Agriculture
Government
Laws & Regulations
Pollution
Visibility:
Public
- Read more about Pork Producers Win Appeal in CAFO Disclosure Case
Miami Herald Sues County for Location of Zika Mosquitoes, Gets It

Miami-Dade county had stiff-armed a request from the Herald for the information, and denied a FOIA request. The county claimed the information was exempt for public health reasons. Photo: © Clipart.com.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet
Topics on the Beat:
Environmental Health
Health
Region:
SE (AL AR FL GA KY LA MS NC PR SC TN)
Visibility:
Public
- Read more about Miami Herald Sues County for Location of Zika Mosquitoes, Gets It
"Close-Hold Embargos" Control Journalists at FDA, Other Agencies

Should a federal agency be able to tell a science reporter whom they can — and can't — interview? The issue exploded in September with publication of a deeply reported piece on the "close-hold embargo" by Scientific American. Photo: © Clipart.com.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet
Topics on the Beat:
Government
Journalism & Media
Visibility:
Public
- Read more about "Close-Hold Embargos" Control Journalists at FDA, Other Agencies
What Congress Won't Let You Read: Latest CRS Explainers Leaked

The Congressional Research Service produces expert nonpartisan backgrounders on many subjects of interest to environment and energy journalists. But Congress won't release them. Thanks to the Federation of American Scientists' Project on Government Secrecy, you can read them now.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet
Topics on the Beat:
Agriculture
Climate Change
Disasters
Economy & Business
Energy & Fuel
Health
Laws & Regulations
Pollution
Transportation
Visibility:
Public
- Read more about What Congress Won't Let You Read: Latest CRS Explainers Leaked
Wyoming "Data Trespass" Legal Conflict Settled by Ranchers, Enviros

A lawsuit over Wyoming's controversial "data trespass" law, which made it illegal to document pollution violations on "private open land", was settled in August without really resolving any of the important Constitutional issues behind it — and with both sides claiming victory.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet
Topics on the Beat:
Laws & Regulations
Pollution
Region:
Mountain West (CO ID MT NV UT WY)
Visibility:
Public
- Read more about Wyoming "Data Trespass" Legal Conflict Settled by Ranchers, Enviros
FOIA Policy: Many Journos Surveyed Say "Wait" Before "Release to All"

A key issue on the Freedom of Information Act is once a government record is released to a single FOIA requester, should it then be automatically released to any other requester and the general public? "Yes" was the answer from most journalists surveyed by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press — but with an important caveat. Image: © Clipart.com.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet
Topics on the Beat:
Laws & Regulations
Policy
Visibility:
Public
- Read more about FOIA Policy: Many Journos Surveyed Say "Wait" Before "Release to All"
Transparency: Still a Legacy Problem with the Obama Administration

Press Secretary Josh Earnest (pictured) highlighted a few of the Obama administration's steps forward on openness in an Aug 30, 2016, letter to the New York Times. But transparent? Not so much, according to many journalists in the trenches, and a large number of news media and journalism groups who have asked for more from the White House and not heard back.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet
Topics on the Beat:
Government
Visibility:
Public
- Read more about Transparency: Still a Legacy Problem with the Obama Administration

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