Newspro: Environmental Journalism

Energizing Journalism
The Society of Environmental Journalists convenes its 18th conference this week in Roanoke, Va., the heart of coal-mining country and an apt location for a conference focused on energy issues. Hosted by Virginia Tech, which is also the conference’s primary sponsor, SEJ 2008 runs Oct. 15-19 and will feature more than 30 panel sessions on the reporter’s craft and on environmental issues such as coal, energy, climate, water and land... On Page 13 and On Page 22

• The Place Where Ideas Are Shared
  The price at the pump remains near $4 a gallon. The power grid is vulnerable and aging. According to all the experts, an American future that includes dependence on foreign oil is a recipe for economic disaster. In short, energy is one of the most important issues of the day. It is also the focus of the 18th annual Society of Environmental Journalists Conference... On Page 14
• Battle for the Right to Know
  The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson on July 4, 1966, has never been popular in Washington but remains the fiercely defended province of journalists throughout the U.S.... On Page 16 and On Page 22
• Environment an Also-Ran Election Issue
  Drilling for oil and funding alternative energy sources were topics of discussion for both John McCain and Barack Obama, pushing environmental issues to a level of visibility unprecedented in a presidential election. Then Wall Street took front and center, leaving environmental journalists wondering how big a role environmental issues would play in pre-election debates, whether the media will pay attention and whether voters will vote the issue. The odds aren’t great... On Page 18
• The Fight for a Shield Law
  On July 30 of this year, a federal shield law stalled in the Senate when supporters—including the Society of Environmental Journalists—failed to garner enough votes to end the debate and force a vote on the issue... On Page 20
• Ken Burns on His 'Best Idea'
  Ken Burns’ new six-part, 12-hour film “The National Parks: America’s Best Idea” debuts in the fall of 2009 on PBS. Directed by Mr. Burns and co-produced with his longtime collaborator Dayton Duncan, who is also the series’ writer, “The National Parks” starts in the mid-1800s, when the parks were just an idea, and charts the system’s growth through 1980, with the addition of vast swaths of Alaska... On Page 24 and On Page 28
• Films That Have a Point
  Documentaries about the environment have struck a chord with audiences in recent years, whether it be the awe-inspiring photojournalism of the television series “Planet Earth” or the more pointed global warming call-to-action of the feature film “An Inconvenient Truth”... On Page 24 and On Page 27
• PBS Turns Up the ‘Heat’
  On Tues., Oct. 21, “Frontline” will air “Heat,” a two-hour investigation of how the world’s largest corporations and governments are responding to climate change caused by global warming. “Heat” is part of the “PBS Vote 2008” election coverage in acknowledgement of the more urgent role of environmental issues in the 2008 presidential campaign... On Page 26
• Island Unto Itself
  Susan Soltero is a self-described big fish in a small pond, an award-winning SEJ member who is the environmental reporter and the senior meteorologist at WLII- TV, the Univision affiliate in San Juan, Puerto Rico... On Page 30
• Crying Out for the Wilderness
  They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and that adage holds true for environmental organizations looking to get their stories told on television—stories that often are complex, scientific and involve intricate packages of legislation... On Page 32 and On Page 34
• Sierra Club Has Message for Media
  With all the attention the state of Alaska is getting due to the nomination of its governor, Sarah Palin, as the Republican vice presidential candidate, the Sierra Club is getting a lot of calls from TV news organizations for its footage on the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge—an area in the northeastern part of the state where Gov. Palin supports drilling for oil... On Page 33 and On Page 34
• A Tough Job Gets Tougher
  The U.S. Labor Department recently announced the loss of 159,000 jobs—the ninth straight month in which America has suffered a decline in jobs. The employment crunch has been across the board, including many layoffs at media companies. Gawker Media, an online group of blogs, cut back 30% of its editorial staff in early October, and 160 employees at CBS Corp.-owned television stations in 13 cities were dismissed earlier this year... On Page 36
• A Station in Pursuit of the Green Goal
  Companies like Whole Foods, Macy’s and Wal-Mart are installing solar panels. California’s Pacific Gas and Electric recently announced plans to purchase enough solar power to light up more than 250,000 homes. All the major networks have recycling and other environmental programs firmly in place. Most of them have had these programs for so long they’re considered old hat. And many TV stations have already gone green—at least over the airwaves... On Page 38
• New Trucks Play Catch-Up
  For years, the people who make news trucks just tried to keep pace with the latest technology. Stations wanted to collect news electronically so they could have a quicker feed without having to go through the film editing process, and truck outfitters delivered... On Page 39 and On Page 43
• Green Becomes Redford
  In addition to ongoing shows such as “Big Ideas for a Small Planet,” a staple after two seasons for the network’s environmental programming block The Green, Sundance Channel has greenlighted the eight-episode series “Eco-Trip: The Real Cost of Living,” hosted by English eco-adventurer David de Rothschild. The network also has acquired popular satellite radio show “The Lazy Environmentalist,” which jumps to The Green with author and green entrepreneur Josh Dorfman in tow. Both shows will debut next year... On Page 40
• On a Real ‘Eco-Trip’
  One of the hottest environmental programs slated to debut in 2009 could well be Sundance Channel’s “Eco-Trip: The Real Cost of Living,” an eight-episode series to air on Sundance’s environmental block of programming The Green, hosted by eco-adventurer David de Rothschild... On Page 40
• TV Nets Map Eco-Friendly Campaigns
  For the major broadcasting networks, “going green” isn’t just a trendy marketing ploy—it’s becoming a way of corporate life as companies implement energy- and resource-saving techniques throughout their facilities and showcase environmental themes in some of their programming... On Page 42
• Environment on the Agenda
  As news pros gather for the 18th annual Society of Environmental Journalists conference in Roanoke, Va., this week, the state of the industry in terms of reporting, broadcasting and covering environmental issues depends on which side of the fence you’re on. Tim Wheeler, environmental reporter for The Baltimore Sun and president of the SEJ Board of Directors, is optimistic... On Page 44
• KNBC’s Grover: Local Crusader
  As an experienced investigative reporter for KNBC-TV in Los Angeles, Joel Grover has been doing exemplary work for a dozen years, and has been recognized with a slew of awards, including the Peabody, 16 Emmys and five National Edward R. Murrow Awards. He knows quite a bit about reporting and recently has done two major environmental pieces... On Page 45
• The Earth Is His Beat
  For ABC News correspondent Bill Blakemore, the greatest failure of mainstream media is in not adequately telling the story of the impact of global warming on our planet... On Page 45 and On Page 47
• Woodruff Puts ‘Earth’ in Focus
  Bob Woodruff is the consummate news pro, a veteran of ABC News who survived a near-death experience while covering the war in Iraq. He has come back from the worst of it, and as he told TelevisionWeek, “I feel great. I’ve gotten a lot of my words back. I still suffer from aphasia.”... On Page 46
• Bill Nye, ‘Stuff’ Guy
  You know Bill Nye. He’s the Science Guy, and now he’s also the guy explaining how the things we do, the food we eat, the products we use and all that kind of stuff happens. The name of the show is, in fact, “Stuff Happens,” and it’s a brand of how-to and how-come environmental journalism wrapped in an infotainment half-hour that really works... On Page 46
• Polar Route for Cable News
  Global warming, ice melt at the North Pole and the presumed decimation of the polar bear are big issues for conservationists and big news in the environmental arena, and producers at both CNN and MSNBC wanted to get a firsthand look at the point of origin... On Page 48
• Scripps: The Green Team
  Across the dial, media outlets have been creating original, innovative ways to connect with the public on environmental topics. At lifestyle powerhouse Scripps Networks, the environmental initiative extends across a broad range of platforms and touches on company practices as well as programming... On Page 49
• Cousteaus Wary of Sea Change
  A highlight of the 18th Annual SEJ Conference in Roanoke, Va., will be the presentation by the Society of Environmental Journalists of its seventh annual awards for reporting on the environment, taking place Wednesday at the Hotel Roanoke and Conference Center... On Page 50
• Saving the Condor
  When the number of California condors in the wild dropped to 21 or 22 in the late 1980s, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service stepped in. Loss of habitat, along with the condors’ habit of eating the carcasses of poisoned pest animals and ingesting lead bullets left in game animals, had decimated the population of the continent’s largest flying bird... On Page 50
• Sanders on Top of the World
  When NBC News correspondent Kerry Sanders set out to do a piece on global warming, he went to the top of the world. Mr. Sanders said the news team wanted to do the story “from the North Pole—ground zero, which is ice on the ocean—rather than from Greenland, which is ice on land.”... On Page 52
• Crisis in India
  “Mined to Death,” Sidharth Pandey’s investigation into three sites being illegally mined in India, is one of three television finalists for the SEJ’s Award for Reporting on the Environment... On Page 52
• The ‘Hot’ Topic
  Among the SEJ Awards for Reporting on the Environment being given out at this week’s conference is one in the category of outstanding beat/in-depth reporting in television. Filmmaker Peter Bull is one of three finalists in the category for his “Frontline” piece “Hot Politics,” about the political history of climate change... On Page 53
• Diligence in Oregon
  One of the three finalists for the SEJ Award in the category of outstanding beat/in-depth reporting is Oregon Public Broadcasting’s “Oregon Field Guide,” a weekly 30-minute news magazine program devoted to environmental topics. The episode that earned recognition by SEJ covered four different stories: the destruction of the Marmot Dam; an update on the wilderness status of Opal Creek; the scientific pursuit of microscopic ice worms; and the migration of toads... On Page 54
• Rather: Case of the Toxic Trailers
  The SEJ Awards for Reporting on the Environment are the world’s largest and most comprehensive awards for journalism on environmental topics, and one of the finalists this year in the category of outstanding beat/in-depth reporting in television is a familiar name in broadcast journalism: Dan Rather... On Page 54
• Doing the Legwork
  There’s an old saying that success is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. For broadcasters and reporters working on stories about the environment, success has often been hard to achieve because of the complications involved in really being prepared. Tackling difficult stories involving science, technology and often hard to comprehend material, environmental reporters have to go the extra yard... On Page 55
• An Energy Resource
  Environmental journalists working in all forms of media can find a wealth of knowledge online, and now they can tap into a repository of information geared toward stakeholders in the energy industry while gaining access to industry events and speeches all over the country without leaving the office... On Page 55
• Navigating News Feeds
  Some networks—BBC comes to mind—have such a strong news presence that their trucks seem to show up automatically in even the most remote areas of the world whenever there’s a newsworthy occurrence... On Page 55