Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
The Society of Environmental Journalists has criticized the government's "tight-lipped approach" in responding to requests for information about the toxic gumbo left by Hurricane Katrina. SEJ President Perry Beeman says the government is "denying the public crucial information collected with taxpayers' money on behalf of taxpayers in the first place. ...
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
Last December, researchers involved with studying the use of antidepressants in children faced questions as federal regulators looked into evidence that the drugs increased suicide risks. The researchers tried "for months to gather all the test data," writes Barry Meier, but "could get only pieces of that information. Some drug companies refused to turn over data to the group, even though these researchers had helped come up with it. ...
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
After challenging Food and Drug Administration policies that he claims leave the public "virtually defenseless" against questionable drugs, FDA drug safety official Dr.
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
"While some charge that embedded reporters are often too protective of the military, [U.S. Representative] Sylvestre Reyes (D-Texas) feels they are dangerous loose cannons, and says it's time to consider revoking their privileges," reports Editor and Publisher. During a House Armed Services Committee discussion of the videotaping of a U.S. Marine shooting an injured Fallujah insurgent in a mosque, Reyes said, "We don't want to know everything that's going on in the field. ...
Submitted by Laura Miller on
When PBS's "Frontline" airs "The Persuaders," a new documentary exploring the marketing and advertising industry, you won't be seeing public relations executives explaining their work on camera. The program, which airs November 9, "intended to have a PR focus, but PR executives refused to 'go public' about what they do, Justin Vogt, a producer at 'Frontline,'" told the trade publication O'Dwyer's PR Daily.
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
The official report of the 9/11 Commission includes a pitch for a new "open-source intelligence agency," which would focus on developing government intelligence information from unrestricted, non-secret sources.
Submitted by Laura Miller on
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has directed staff to "refrain from answering" media calls in order to "prevent EPA management from being surprised by news coverage," according to an agency memo obtained by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility.
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
After terrorists besieged the Beslan school, a "semiofficial" document circulated among Russian networks demanded "media self-censorship ... 'Special operation' was prohibited, as was 'shahid' [suicide martyr] - a word that, along with the phrase 'war in Chechnya,' has already been prohibited on state TV for a year. ...
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
In 1990, British lawyer Andrew Foyle wrote a memorandum to British American Tobacco regarding the company's "document retention policy." U.S. government lawyers contend the Foyle memo provides information on tobacco companies' actions "to destroy, suppress or otherwise shield from discovery ... internal research documents concerning smoking and health." The U.S.
Submitted by Laura Miller on
"Up to 400,000 New Yorkers breathed in the most toxic polluting cloud ever recorded after the twin towers were brought down three years ago, but no proper effort has been made to find out how their health has been affected. [A] US government study provides the latest evidence of a systematic cover-up of the health toll from pollution after the 9/11 disaster, which doctors fear will cause more deaths than the attacks themselves," the Independent writes.
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