Journalism & Media

"Two decisions handed down July 19 in DC Superior Court affirmed climate scientist Michael Mann’s right to proceed in his defamation lawsuit against the Competitive Enterprise Institute and the National Review Online for their statements accusing him of data manipulation and fraud. The Court is not buying the Defendants arguments in their Motion to Dismiss that their statements are protected speech under the First Amendment, mere 'opinion,' 'rhetorical hyperbole,' or 'fair comment.'"

"Oil field services firm Halliburton will plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge of destroying evidence related to the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill in exchange for a fine and probation, the Justice Department said Thursday."

"Last week, former Reuters reporter David Fogarty published a scathing letter online accusing his former employer of abandoning coverage of climate change."

"NEW ORLEANS -- The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has denied Transocean’s stay of judgment involving its refusal to turn over subpoenaed documents to the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB)."

"Actor and former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is at work on a documentary on climate change and how it impacts the fire season. Mr. Schwarzenegger was in western Montana, profiling the Snake River Hotshots as they work on the lines of the 9.6-square-mile West Mullan Fire burning north of the town of Superior."

A federal court ruled that the Chevron company can have access to nine years of e-mail metadata from activists, lawyers, and journalists who criticized the company for drilling pollution in Ecuador.

"SALT LAKE CITY -- Animal-welfare activists filed a lawsuit Monday to overturn a Utah law that prohibits undercover filming while trespassing at farm operations, saying it restricts free expression."

"PITTSBURGH -- The boom in natural gas drilling has cast two opposing documentary filmmakers in unlikely roles."

"Critics of the Obama administration have gotten a lot of mileage by claiming ideological bias at the Environmental Protection Agency. But a POLITICO analysis of the evidence shows holes in their case."

A Texas trial is pitting the giant Eastman Chemical against two small labs who said
Eastman's "BPA-free" plastic Tritan still had estrogen-like activity. The trial raises key issues about whether the objectivity of science is skewed by who pays for it -- and whether financial interests should be disclosed.