Transparency
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February 1, 2012 12:37 PM
To Sue or Not to Sue?
The first two years of OGIS
Last June in Las Vegas, Corinna Zarek told a ballroom full of investigative journalists at the annual Investigative Reporters and Editors conference that she was there to help. "We are the FOIA advocates!" she announced. "This independent office, within government, to help FOIA requesters and members of federal agencies resolve disputes before they lead to litigation!"
I listened with hope....
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December 29, 2011 08:10 PM
This News Story Is Brought to You By…
Shouldn’t TV news outlets be clearer about offering pay-for-play?
One of the most disturbing trends in local TV news is the persistence of “pay for play”—when local TV newscasts allow sponsors to dictate content.
The Federal Communications Commission has proposed a rule that would make it easier for the public to see which stations are engaging in these and other deceptive or ethically dubious practices. The National Association of...
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October 28, 2011 02:00 PM
Cracking the Case
Why is it so difficult to cover investigations of environmental crimes?
The federal civil and criminal investigations of the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico continue to be a source of frustration for the press, not in and of themselves, but rather because they thwart reporters’ access to certain information and data.
At the Society of Environmental Journalists annual conference in Miami last week, the issue came up during...
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October 12, 2011 04:30 PM
An Empty Seat
Government fails to show for science news, transparency event
Federal officials invited to participate in a public forum at the National Press Club last week about a lack transparency and media access under the Obama administration declined the invitation, further disappointing already frustrated journalists.
The October 3 event was pegged to a feature I wrote for the September/October issue of the Columbia Journalism Review, based on a survey...
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October 3, 2011 11:03 AM
CJR Event: Science News and Government Transparency
Access denied
Has the Obama administration lived up to its promise to make science more transparent and accessible to the public? An investigation in the current issue of the Columbia Journalism Review (CJR) finds that despite President Obama’s early promise to create an open government, the nation’s science reporters feel there has been little to no progress since the Bush administration.
Today,...
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September 23, 2011 10:24 AM
Nigeria’s New FOIA
Reporters enjoy new freedoms in a long-repressive society
Journalism in Nigeria has never been easy work, and the new Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), which finally became law in May twelve years after the bill was first drafted, isn’t about to change that overnight. But having struggled through decades of repression under military rule, advocates of press freedom in Nigeria are in unusually optimistic mood.
“This law will...
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June 22, 2011 03:31 PM
Risen’s gripping affidavit
Yesterday James Risen, one of The New York Times’s top national security reporters, filed an affidavit in a federal district court explaining why he refuses to comply with a subpoena demanding he give testimony that would identify his source (or sources) for a chapter in his 2006 book State of War.
The chapter at question described a series of intelligence...
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March 2, 2011 07:30 AM
The Flack Who Shared Too Much
When can a news organization expect silence?
All it was missing was the siren. Late Monday night, Politico broke the news that a congressman’s spokesman may have provided a reporter with various e-mails he had exchanged with other reporters.
Not just any congressman, mind you, but Darrell Issa, the hot (for Washington) property who heads the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. And not just any spokesman,...
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February 9, 2011 03:35 PM
Did Assange Play Lawyer?
WikiLeaks insider suggests a legal adviser never existed
A recently published book excerpt suggests that “Jay Lim,” an occasional WikiLeaks spokesperson often identified as its legal advisor, was merely an online pseudonym of Julian Assange.
The excerpts, posted on cryptome.org, are (naturally) leaked scans of an early copy of WikiLeaks’s defector Daniel Domscheit-Berg’s upcoming book. Domscheit-Berg, before his break with the organization, had long operated under the pseudonym...
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February 4, 2011 12:54 PM
Strange Eruptions from the WikiLeaks Saga
Bill Keller offers new details on e-mail hacking
Last night, The Columbia School of Journalism played host to Bill Keller and Alan Rusbridger, the top editors at The New York Times and The Guardian who worked together in 2010 on three sensational WikiLeaks document releases.
Beyond the novelty of seeing them on stage together, nothing much emerged that hasn’t been covered in either Keller’s detailed article in last...
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January 17, 2011 01:18 PM
Shielding Reality
Take the time on this holiday to read SF Weekly’s fascinating and troubling look from last week at Bait Car, a reality show on TruTv.
The show’s producers, collaborating with the San Francisco Police Department, sprinkled cars around the city, keys in them, engines left running. The bait cars were wired for video, and police, producers and camera operators lurked...
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December 31, 2010 11:39 AM
Best of 2010: Clint Hendler
Hendler picks his top stories from 2010
No Handouts: The administration has denied independent photographers access to historic White House events that could easily be made public, instead releasing one carefully selected “handout” snap taken by their official photographer. It’s one of the clearest examples of message control under Obama, and it’s one done with an ironic twist: the official photographer was once a newspaper photographer active...
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December 6, 2010 03:50 PM
The Muzzling of the FDA
How government press officers stole our freedom
It is 1978. I have just been refused admission to a Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association section meeting that is to hear FDA commissioner Donald Kennedy speak in a Crystal City Marriott conference room.
Outside the closed door, I see the commissioner bound off the escalator and stride toward me. He stops, looking puzzled.
“Hello Jim,” he says. “Why aren’t you...
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December 1, 2010 10:41 AM
Dealing with the Times
Governor's aides parry with their inquisitors
While the hundreds of e-mails show the governor’s press staffers fencing with reporters from many major news organizations, no set of interactions is more relevant than those with the New York Times.
The e-mails, mostly coming from Times Albany bureau chief Danny Hakim, reflect the paper carefully gathering string, information, and comment on a variety of subject areas that, for...
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Special Feature
Transparency
The struggle to open up government
Stories and other material on government transparency from the Columbia Journalism Review, from the January/February print magazine with Web-only supplements.
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The Audit Business
- Audit Notes: pyramid people, Disney and ABC, no USA Today paywall Roddy Boyd digs into a diet-shake pyramid scheme
- Hot air Rises Above on CNBC An anchor pins a minor dip in stocks on the TV appearance of a minor politician
The Observatory Science
- Dull news from Doha UN climate summit a ho-hum affair for the press
- Highway to the danger zone Following Sandy, HuffPo and NYT dig into the folly of coastal development
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- NBC News sets good example for Medicare reporting People perspective leads to clear explanation of impact of proposed changes
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