Laws & Regulations

SEJ complained in an August 7 letter to CHP that the arrest of Willits News photog Steven Eberhard for attempting to document a protest was a violation of constitutionally guaranteed freedom of the press. CHP responded August 28, noting that its policies for news media access to the Willits highway bypass construction site had changed. However, several assertions in the letter are not true, according to Eberhard and a video of the incident. © Photo by Steve Eberhard: CHP arrests demonstrators Sept. 10, 2013, at the Willits, Calif., bypass construction site.

John Platt, author of Scientific American's Extinction Countdown blog, offers up a great list of things that may help environmental journalists illuminate some of the issues in question as the Act prepares for its second 40 years. Photo: A California condor outfitted with tracking tags, courtesy USFWS.

Can a federal employee who discloses lax safety inspections of gas pipelines or terminals be fired? That might be the case under a new federal appeals court decision that limits the whistleblower protections for federal employees who disclose "sensitive," but noncritical national security information.