"A bill aimed at improving the federal government's responses to Freedom of Information Act requests passed the House on Monday and will soon be headed for the White House, where the measure is expected to be signed into law by President Barack Obama."
"U.S. Republican Donald Trump said on Monday he will no longer issue press credentials to the Washington Post, stopping the publication from gaining access to press areas at his presidential campaign events."
Environmental journalists are not alone in their frustrations with the federal officials who are supposed to help journalists get information about what government is doing. Now the Association of Health Care Journalists (AHCJ) has surveyed its members and found the federal government often blocks access to information that health care journalists seek.
Some commenters say Donald Trump has declared "war on the press." But Hillary Clinton has herself given little access to the news media during the campaign so far. Worse yet, parts of the news media seem to be making the problem worse, by not advocating for press freedom and open information. Profits and ratings have trumped the First Amendment.
"The Fish and Wildlife Service today announced it will impose a near-total ban on the sale of ivory, fulfilling a key element of the Obama administration's crackdown on wildlife trafficking."
"The National Association of Science Writers (NASW), founded in 1934 as one of the nation’s first professional journalism organizations, is in the midst of an existential crisis, and a report released this week suggests that the internal strife could well tear it apart."
"AUSTIN, Texas — The state has removed aerial-surveillance photos taken during severe floods from a public website. The decision comes after the El Paso Times earlier this month published a story with dozens of such photos showing apparent oil spills in different river systems over the past few years."
The Senate-passed bill contains an explicit exemption from permits and fees for newsgathering. A House energy bill, now going to conference to be reconciled with the Senate bill, contains no newsgathering exemption. But that's not the end of the story. Image courtesy of NPS.
"The National Park Service has lost an early round of legal maneuvering over Yosemite National Park’s trademarked names, as a multi-front fight narrows to the court venue preferred by the aggrieved former concessionaire."
"So far, Donald J. Trump has said very little about climate change and energy policy beyond his Twitter posts on the issues."
