The SEJ WatchDog Alert

The WatchDog Alert (formerly WatchDog TipSheet from 2008-2019) was a regular source of story ideas, articles, updates, events and other information with a focus on freedom-of-information issues of concern to environmental journalists in both the United States and Canada.

WatchDog was compiled, edited and written by Joseph A. Davis, who directs the WatchDog Project, an activity of SEJ's Freedom of Information Task Force that reports on secrecy trends and supports reporters' efforts to make better use of FOIA.

Topics on the Beat:

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Latest WatchDog Alert Items

October 12, 2016

Newly Leaked: CRS Explainers To Help Environmental Journalists

The Federation of American Scientists' Project on Government Secrecy publishes leaked copies of Congressional Research Service research papers. Here are a few recent ones of use to environmental journalists.

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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.

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September 28, 2016

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.

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"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.

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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.

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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.

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September 7, 2016

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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The SEJ WatchDog Alert

Latest WatchDog Alert Items

October 12, 2016

Newly Leaked: CRS Explainers To Help Environmental Journalists

NFOIC Meets Amid New Open-Government Challenges of Digital Revolution

September 28, 2016

Pork Producers Win Appeal in CAFO Disclosure Case

"Close-Hold Embargos" Control Journalists at FDA, Other Agencies

Miami Herald Sues County for Location of Zika Mosquitoes, Gets It

Impaired Waters Lists: A Tool for Water Pollution Reporting

September 7, 2016

Transparency: Still a Legacy Problem with the Obama Administration

Wyoming "Data Trespass" Legal Conflict Settled by Ranchers, Enviros

FOIA Policy: Many Journos Surveyed Say "Wait" Before "Release to All"

What Congress Won't Let You Read: Latest CRS Explainers Leaked

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