Here is the text of an e-mail reply of January 22, 2014, from CDC Public Affairs Director Barbara Reynolds to the letter of January 20 from SEJ and SPJ on press access obstacles after the Charleston, WV, water contamination crisis.
Drones might count as new media — and certainly have journalistic uses in covering everything from prairie fires to chemical emergencies. The federal government, which devotes enormous technical resources to spying on its citizens, now says this is illegal. The Federal Aviation Administration issued the ruling, saying there was no grey area: hobbyists can legally fly video drones. But journalists can not. Image: Cade Cleavelin, a science/ag journalism senior at U of Missouri, demonstrates a DJY Phantom quadcopter at the 2013 SEJ Conference in Chattanooga, TN. © Roger Archibald.
Journalists had trouble overcoming EPA and CDC press office obstacles and getting access to agency experts and officials during this month's drinking water contamination crisis in Charleston, WV. SEJ and the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) have sent a letter of complaint to heads of both agencies and their press offices. We urge them to adopt specific practices to end press office stonewalling and increase transparency, especially in times of crisis.
[UPDATE: Reply of January 29, 2014, from EPA Assoc. Adm. for Ext. Affairs Tom Reynolds]
[UPDATE: Reply of January 22, 2014, from CDC Public Affairs Director Barbara Reynolds]
[UPDATE: "CDC: Pregnant Women Should Have Been Warned About Water Sooner," Charleston Gazette, January 22, 2014, by Ken Ward Jr.]
"The latest data are out on the prevalence of global warming denial among the US public. And they aren't pretty."
"WASHINGTON -- Climate change got more coverage on broadcast news in 2013 than in the previous few years, but the issue still didn't get nearly as much attention as it did in 2009, Media Matters found in a new analysis."
In November 2013, Super Typhoon Haiyan ravaged the Central Philippines. Hundreds of journalists were injured and/or left homeless. They still need aid to rebuild their lives and continue reporting. 
SEJ is now collecting tax-deductible gifts earmarked for environmental journalists in the Philippines. SEJ board member Imelda Abano, president of the Philippine Network of Environmental Journalists, said after visiting the devastated country, "We've seen too much. Colleagues need our help, our immediate assistance. Let’s give them hope, and the support of fellow journalists." Photo (R): Many journalists lived in this once-subdivision, now an ocean of debris.
"WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is retreating from previous demands of strong international environmental protections in order to reach agreement on a sweeping Pacific trade deal that is a pillar of President Obama’s strategic shift to Asia, according to documents obtained by WikiLeaks, environmentalists and people close to the contentious trade talks."
"Oil and gas companies that are using hydraulic fracturing -- or fracking -- off the Southern California coast must report chemicals discharged into the ocean under new requirements released Thursday by federal environmental regulators."
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