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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: 
Journalism & Media
Public

Latest WatchDog Alert Items

October 5, 2011

  • J-Groups at Press Club: Obama’s Science Openness Glass Only Half Full

    The session, before an audience of journalists at the Press Club and another audience online, included representatives of the Columbia Journalism Review, the Associated Press, Politico, the Society of Environmental Journalists, the Association of Health Care Journalists, Reporters Without Borders, and the National Association of Science Writers. The EPA declined to attend.

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September 21, 2011

  • CJR Probes Press Office Minders, Permissions at Fed Science Agencies

    A joint investigation by Columbia Journalism Review and ProPublica into the Obama administration's science openness policies offered only faint praise for Obama's accomplishments. Nearly 400 of roughly 2,100 invited journalists responded to their survey, and they gave both the Bush and Obama administrations poor marks for openness at science agencies.

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  • National Press Club To Host Panel on Obama Science Openness Oct. 3

    The event, co-sponsored by the Society of Environmental Journalists and other groups, is free and open to the public (RSVP). Panelists include: Curtis Brainard, Columbia Journalism Review science editor; Joseph A. Davis, (SEJ) WatchDog editor; Felice Freyer, Association of Health Care Journalists; Darren Samuelsohn, Politico’s senior energy/environment reporter; and Clothilde Le Coz, Reporters Without Borders energy/environment reporter.

     

     

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  • Appeals Court Orders Release of Timber-Trade Records

    Details and documents on the 2006 US-Canada Softwood Lumber Agreement will be released after a federal appeals court ruled Sept. 16, 2011, against claims by the Office of the US Trade Representative that the documents, sought by the Center for Biological Diversity and Conservation Northwest, were exempt from the Freedom of Information Act.

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  • Florida Court Won't Order OSHA To Withhold Images of Orca-Trainer Death

    Judge Gregory Presnell ruled that the federal Freedom of Information Act did not allow an injunction before the agency itself had made its decision on whether to release the records.

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  • Indiana GOPer Reintroduces Federal Shield Law

    Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) has reintroduced a bill that would establish a limited federal protection for journalists when prosecutor and courts seek to compel them to disclose their confidential sources. A similar measure died on the Senate floor at the end of the last Congress.

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  • White House, Under Attack for Secrecy, Issues Transparency Report

    Under fire from all sides for excessive secrecy, the Obama administration has just issued a status report touting its "open government" achievements. One assessment of the report came from the Federation of American Scientists' long-time secrecy watchdog, Steven Aftergood.

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  • TVA Public Relations Staff Edited Engineer's Report on Failed Coal-Ash Dam

    Dam inspections began before the Dec. 2008 spill incident of 5.4 million cubic yards of coal-ash slurry in Tennessee. Afterward, the initial draft engineer's report of the pre-spill inspection noted several eroded areas needed to be fixed "immediately;" the word was subsequently struck from the report.

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September 8, 2011

  • SEJ Urges EPA To Make Science More Open to News Media

    In formal comments on EPA's August 5, 2011, draft Scientific Integrity Policy, submitted September 2, SEJ recommended that EPA adopt portions of a model policy drafted by the Union of Concerned Scientists in addition to affirming that "media have a right to interact with EPA staff, including scientists, without having agency staff and/or political minders listening in or otherwise taking part."

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  • Interior Brass Under Investigation for Political Interference with Science

    Top officials at the Bureau of Ocean Energy, Management, Regulation and Enforcement have been charged with scientific misconduct regarding a possible cover-up over the suspension and sudden reinstatement of Dr. Charles Monnett, who authored a paper suggesting climate change was harming polar bears.

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