Policy

When covering rural America, mainstream media often defaults to stereotypes steeped in politics and ignores the diversity that actually exists there, as expanding news deserts exacerbate the problem. Reporter Claire Carlson on why this matters — including in discouraging investment around climate change or resource industries urban dwellers depend on. Here’s how journalists can report richer, more nuanced stories about rural people and places.

A promising federal shield law that would protect journalists from jail for refusing to reveal sources months ago passed the House of Representatives but has since stalled in the Senate. The new WatchDog Opinion column can tell you why … and why this measure, dubbed the PRESS Act, matters so much for reporters, including those that cover climate and the environment.

A new federal rule to cut power plant pollution and carbon dioxide emissions promises to escalate a yearslong, highly partisan battle at the core of U.S. climate change policy. Our Issue Backgrounder lays out the shifting regulatory approaches from the administrations of George W. Bush to Joe Biden, and notes the legal tug-of-war that has heightened the importance of another big player — the Supreme Court.

Plans for two new U.S. facilities that will use hydrogen instead of coal to make steel hold the promise of decarbonizing this essential but dirty industry. But don’t expect overnight change. Reporter Maria Gallucci looks at the complexities of making the switch, from ditching the ​blast furnace to reducing pollution all along the supply chain.

New federal regulations governing a group of “forever chemicals” under the Safe Drinking Water Act — a rule years in the making — have important implications for local drinking water supplies and, per the latest TipSheet, local environment reporting. A look at the problem with PFAS, the complicated route to its regulation and more than a dozen story ideas and reporting resources.

A massive data set that tracks greenhouse gas emissions in the United States is now newly updated, and the latest Reporter’s Toolbox calls it essential for informed reporting on U.S. climate policy. Its three decades-plus of measurements can help journalists track big emitters near them and from a variety of major sources ranging from landfill methane to industrial polluters.