Author Archives: Vladislava Sukhanovskaya

Trust in media down, but what does ‘the media’ mean’?

By Eric Freedman

Americans’ trust in the media remains at a record low, a new Gallup poll reports, with only 31% of those surveyed expressing a “great deal” or “fair amount” of confidence in the press.

That is a lower confidence rate for the press than for Congress, federal courts and respondents’ own state and local government.

The high point in trust in the media came in the 1970s at 68% to 72% of those polled, according to Gallup.

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How to be a responsible watchdog

By Anna Barnes

Editor’s note: This is one in a series of stories coming out of a recent meeting of the Society of Environmental Journalists in Philadelphia.

A whistleblower speaking at a recent Society of Environmental Journalists conference wore a hat that said “personal capacity” to make sure those in the room would not link his/her statements to any agency and that he/she would remain anonymous.

What do you do when an employee comes forward, exposing their company for wrongdoing?

Environmental journalists discussed how to handle that situation at a recent Society of Environmental Journalist Conference in Philadelphia.

Sharon Lerner, a reporter for ProPublica, used a whistleblower to expose the Environmental Protection Agency for corrupt work practices and safety problems when assessing chemicals.

They had to figure out how to tell the story without endangering the careers of her sources, said Lerner, who led a panel on working with whistleblowers.

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Reporting the environmental impact of war

By Gabrielle Nelson

Editor’s note: This is one in a series of stories coming out of a recent meeting of the Society of Environmental Journalists in Philadelphia.

Karen Coates, left, speaks to SEJ conference attendees about the environmental impacts of war along with Carolyn Beeler, center, and Susan Phillips, right.

Fields pockmarked by bombs, forests torn up by trenches and littered with landmines, cities around the Kakhovka dam in Ukraine flooded and then left with a water shortage as the reservoir dries up.

These scenes in Ukraine and Gaza are a few examples of how war leaves long lasting damage to the environment.

Journalists, climate scientists, environmental advocacy groups and researchers examined war’s environmental consequences at a recent Society of Environmental Journalists conference in Philadelphia.

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Unearthing climate change challenges along Delaware Bayshore

By Christa Young

Editor’s note: This is one in a series of stories coming out of a recent meeting of the Society of Environmental Journalists in Philadelphia.

Shane Godshall speaks to a group of journalists about his work doing habitat restoration on Money Island. Image: Christa Young

New Jersey’s Delaware Bayshore isn’t called the road less traveled without reason.

Persistent rainfall, exacerbated by global warming, has increased the wetlands in this area of Cumberland County.

Journalists, scientists, and conservationists are uncovering data showing that remote rural communities like Money Island will be flooded soon if politicians and state officials don’t act fast.

Roughly three dozen attendees of the recent Society of Environmental Journalists annual conference in Philadelphia traveled to Money Island, the smallest and most remote rural hamlet in the county. It was the first stop on a daylong traverse of a 70-mile stretch of untouched Delaware Bayshore coastline in southeast New Jersey.

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