Publication Items

Capitol Police Chief Kim C. Dine responded April 10, 2014, to SEJ's letter complaining about the brief detention of BNA energy reporter Ari Natter on March 28. In an e-mail, Dine said: "some of the most important things we do is protect the rights of citizens to express  themselves and protect the freedom of the press as we go about our duties protecting and serving the legislative process."

The federal government certainly won't tell you. But the nonprofit research group FracTracker will give you data and maps on some 1.1 million oil and gas wells in 36 U.S. states. It's a great starting point for stories on the environmental impacts of drilling and fracking in your area.

Kentucky is the latest state to consider legislation criminalizing undercover photography of animal abuse in farm operations, which often ends up in the news. But Democratic Rep. Joni Jenkins (pictured), who sponsored the measure to which the Senate attached the Ag-Gag language, says she won't call it up in the House.

Some major U.S. journalism organizations are increasingly fed up with federal public affairs offices acting "more like prison guards than gate-keepers." The latest outbreak of frustration was at a March 19, 2014, panel discussion at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. Read comments by panelists — who agreed that the situation would not get better without organized and creative pushback from journalists.