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Drones to the Rescue Continued from Page 5 $5.00 October 2013 Chained to the Desk Survey Says SEJ Drones to Members Need to Get Out More Page 10 the Rescue Against the High-Flying Tools Odds Environmental to Unlock the Future Coverage Can Flourish Page 22 of Environmental Journalism Secrets of Page 4 Freelancing Tips From the Successfully Self-Employed Page 35 We Shape the Future NBC News Vet Anne Thompson Refl ects on the Beat Page 42 NUCLEAR ENERGY Reliable Electricity & Clean Air How can we generate more low-carbon electricity that is affordable while creating more American jobs? Nuclear energy produces nearly two-thirds of America’s carbon-free electricity. With our electricity needs expected to grow 22% by 2035, advanced nuclear energy plants must be built to meet this rising demand without producing more greenhouse gases. Nuclear energy facilities have the highest reliability of all electricity sources with production costs that average about 2 cents per kilowatt-hour. Nuclear energy should be expanded as part of a balanced energy portfolio that generates more low-carbon and affordable electricity and reduces our dependence on foreign energy sources. Nuclear. Clean Air Energy. nei.org/cleanair 13np0044.pdf RunDate: 10/07/13 Full Page Color: 4/C FROM THE EDITOR So Squeezed, Yet So Vital Ever since NewsPro launched as a stand-alone publication in 2009 — and even well before that, when it appeared as a regular special section of TelevisionWeek — a recurring, unsettling topic of the annual environmental journalism issue has been that of endangered species. We’re CONTENTS not talking the Columbian white-tailed deer, but environmental journalists themselves. In this rapidly changing, Internet-driven world where traditional journalism outlets have SKY-HIGH FUTURE .............................. 4 battled extinction through endless retrenchment, repositioning and adaptation, the environ- Drones and Sensors Show the Way mental beat is prominent among those that have borne the brunt of cost-cutting. And again FOIA FOIBLES ...................................... 8 this year, the NewsPro/SEJ survey re ects the professional realities of limited resources and A Deadline Ruling Has Limited Impact scarcity of sta jobs. e mainstream-media body count continued in 2013: Notably, the New York Times dis- TIGHT TIMES ...................................... 10 banded its environmental desk in January and, as chronicled on page 33, the Oregonian, long 2013 NewsPro/SEJ Survey Results well-regarded for its environmental coverage, eliminated some 50 newsroom sta ers in June, CONFERENCE CALLS ........................ 16 including its sole environmental reporter. SEJ Meets Sustainability Some bright spots did emerge, however, as you will see from our pro le on page 26 of InsideClimate News, the virtual news group composed of seven full-time sta ers — all envi- HEADS OF THEIR CLASS .................. 19 ronmental journalists — that won this year’s Pulitzer Prize for national reporting. And on page A Look at Five SEJ Award Winners 29, we examine the arrival on the cable news scene of Al Jazeera America, already showing CUTBACKS BE DAMNED ................... 22 serious intentions on the environmental beat. Environmental Coverage Improves Environmental journalists have shown themselves to be a persistent lot, driven by concern and curiosity, whose dedication to the noble cause has led them to nd a way, as revealed in A STAR IS BORN ................................. 26 this issue’s exploration of the freelance and nonpro t worlds. But as we discover in the latter, InsideClimate News Shakes Things Up while these professionals may be producing some of the best and most in-depth work of their ROCKY ROAD ...................................... 27 careers, the nonpro ts themselves are up against huge challenges, including achieving larger Achievement and Challenge Mark Nonprofi ts regional or national levels of recognition for their hard work. Some days, that can seem quite a conundrum to surmount. A FRESH PERSPECTIVE ................... 29 We’d like to give special thanks to Anne ompson for contributing this edition’s Sign-O Al Jazeera America Makes an Auspicious Debut column. A must-read, it’s an inspirational, personal piece that conveys this simple — and HYPE OR HELP? ................................ 31 heady — message to her fellow environmental journalists: “Our beat is the most signi cant Meteorologists Feel Pressure to Make It Exciting aspect of the future.” — Tom Gilbert, Editor OREGON TRIAL ................................... 33 Feeling the Losses at the Oregonian ADVERTISING SALES Ph: (212) 210-0748 Fax: (212) 210-0772 SUCCESS AT HOME ........................... 35 Executive Producer: Freelancers Who Are Making It Work Jeff Reisman, [email protected] (212) 210-0748 Producer: EDITORIAL OFFICES Danny Schreiber, [email protected] (503) 723-9688 NEW IN MEDIA .................................. 40 Phone: (212) 210-0748 Fax: (212) 210-0772 Upcoming Works of Interest Production Manager: Nicole Dionne Publisher-Editorial Director: David S. Klein Circulation Manager: Nicole Chantharaj SIGN-OFF: DELIGHT AND DANGER .. 42 Editor: Tom Gilbert Anne Thompson Refl ects on the Beat Art Director: Elise Cozzi NewsPro (ISSN 2151-1764), Volume 4, Issue 2, is published regularly at Crain Communications Inc., 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017. Periodical postage pending at New York, NY, and additional mailing of\ ces. POSTMASTER: send address changes to NewsPro, Circulation Dept., Cover photo: 1155 Gratiot Ave., Detroit, MI 48207-2912. Matthew Schroyer/DroneJournalism.org NewsPro® is a registered trademark of Crain Communications Inc. Go Ahead. Bug Us. We know pesticides and fertilizers can be complex subject matters. As a national trade association, RISE (Responsible Industry for a Sound Environment)® deals with these issues every day and can serve as a resource when you’re on deadline or need more information. Call: Karen Reardon (202) 872-3893 Email: [email protected] Visit: DebugTheMyths.com October 2013 | NewsPro | 3 COVER STORY TheThe FutureFuture IsIs inin thethe AirAir Drones and Sensors Portend a Revolution in Environmental Coverage MATTHEW SCHROYER/DRONEJOURNALISM.ORG MATTHEW By Elizabeth Jensen “When you’re presented with a new technology like [drones], it’s nvironmental journalists are trained to pry statistics out of important to be skeptical. Will it work or won’t it? Will it provide new clamped-down agencies and plow through documents to fi nd opportunities for reporting or won’t it? Don’t marry the technology Eincriminating data. But how would they rethink their jobs if before you check it out,” said Bill Allen, assistant professor of science they could collect such information themselves, without gatekeepers journalism, University of Missouri. or drudgery? e moment has already arrived for inexpensive sensor projects, e possibilities are tantalizing. Imagine measuring air pollution as hobbyist computers and microcontrollers, including Raspberry Pi along bike routes that state governments lack the funds to monitor and Arduino, come to market. “ e big limitation now is not the regularly, contamination in remote streams that feed a drinking hardware and it’s not the software and it’s not the cost. It’s the story water supply, or dwindling bird populations. idea,” said John Keefe, senior editor for Data News & Journalism It’s all within reach, thanks to such inexpensive new technologies Technology at New York public radio station WNYC. “Sound, as sensors and unmanned aerial vehicles, more popularly known as light, humidity, temperature and pollutants” are ripe for sensor drones. What is needed now, according to journalists, tinkerers and measurement. academics who are working to educate researchers on the possibilities, In the spring, WNYC taught listeners how to make soil is some imagination and trial and error, some grappling with ethical temperature sensors used to crowd-source predictions for the arrival issues, an understanding of exactly what insights data can and can’t of 17-year cicadas. Some 800 people sent more than 2,000 readings. provide, and, in the case of drones, some serious practice. is fall, working with Columbia University’s Mailman School of 4 | October 2013 | NewsPro Public Health, the station is equipping New York City volunteer bike academia and commercial endeavors. Hobbyists, who are allowed to riders with transistor-radio-sized sensors to monitor air particulates y drones, must follow strict rules, including having to keep them along various commuting routes. e results will be rolled out as the below 400 feet in unpopulated areas, and never letting them out of data come in, Keefe said, unlike more traditional reporting where the sight. data are collected and synthesized into a story. Until getting politely grounded for outdoor ight by the FAA this WNYC has run up against some challenges as it thinks through summer, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and the University of sensor projects, he noted. ere are privacy concerns: What Missouri had been ying drones as part of their journalism programs. if microphones put in homes to measure ambient noise from ( ey interpreted the FAA rules di erently than the agency did and ambulances and garbage trucks also pick up conversations? And both have applied for certi cates of authorization to resume ying.) many technological problems still exist: Keefe’s team wanted to ey have learned so far that ying a drone is much harder than they anticipated. “You will crash and you will break it,” said professor Matt Waite,
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