Posted by Jamie in Green Articles, Green Leaders | 1 Comment
Society of Environmental Journalists
Warning: strip_tags() expects parameter 1 to be string, array given in /home/propelea/public_html/wp-includes/formatting.php on line 631
The Society of Environmental Journalists (SEJ) was born in 1990, when twenty-five respected journalists from topnotch companies like Turner Broadcasting, USA Today, and National Geographic banded together for a common cause: environmentalism.
Even so, the SEJ is not an organization for environmental lobbyists, and neither is it for PR persons. At its core, this is an entity of journalists, their support system if one may.
For this cadre of environmentalist-journalists, society must have optimal access to news and information on the environment as they happen. Only quality, accurate, and visible reports on the environment could foster a well-informed society.
The organization’s objectives, as listed in their site, are:
• “to build a stronger and more closely connected network of educated environmental journalists and editors;
• to stimulate more and better coverage of a range of critically important environmental issues;
• to encourage addition or expansion of environmental reporting positions within broadcast, print, and internet news organizations;
• to increase use of information resources, training, and educational events that are already available to journalists and editors who may be covering the environment;
• to foster the creation of important new information resources and training opportunities.”
Along those lines, the SEJ has developed programs to foster environmental journalists, whatever their media is.
The programs the organization initiates seek to compel journalists to provide excellent coverage of a wide gamut of concerns about the environment and foster the need to specialize in environment reports inside various media outlets. The organization also exerts much effort to bind a strong mesh of educated environmental journalists.
As a non-profit organization, the Society of Environmental Journalists is funded through proposal-based grants. Otherwise, universities are known to sponsor the SEJ’s yearly conference. The society also accepts gifts from media corporations. Membership dues as well as contributions to the endowment fund also buoy the organization financially. However, SEJ does not use pledges from governmental offices, environmentalist entities and non-media firms.
At present, the Society of Environmental Journalists number over 1,300 members, representing traditional and emerging media in more than thirty nations, including the United States and Canada. Through the years, no less than Pulitzer Prize winners and book authors have been affiliated with the organization.
Key people:
• Timothy Wheeler – President
• Christy George – First Vice President and Programs Chair
• Cheryl Hogue – Second Vice President and Membership Chair
• Carolyn Whetzel – Treasurer
There is no other membership organization of working journalists in America today dedicated to improvements in environmental reporting.
Every year, SEJ holds conferences and regional events. Hosted by distinguished universities, these occasions are opportunities for fledgling journalists to mingle with award-winning colleagues, scientists and state officials. They also get to be oriented with novel technologies in news reporting and visit prospective beats in the area.
SEJ members are privy to unique publications, like the award-winning WatchDog TipSheet. Coming out every two weeks via email, the WatchDog Tipsheet unravels news about the environment that the state is trying to keep under covers. In this way, the tipsheet takes swipes at violations against the First Amendment, to say nothing of the Freedom of Information. After 9/11, the stakes have been high for public disclosure. For instance, the public domain has progressively lost track of some hazardous chemical sites and such. Other publications include the SEJournal, published quarterly, and EJToday, released daily.
Also on offer for SEJ members are valuable mentoring sessions. They take place within the newsrooms themselves, where expert environmental journalists hold court. College-level members who are interested can join.
Online, SEJ members get to peruse an exclusive directory of members. Plus, SEJ members have open lines of communication through e-mail listservs, hosting lively and open discussion from job alerts to hot topics in the environmental journalism.
Prospective members in America have to pay initial dues of $20, $15 for other North Americans and students. All journalists, educators and students are eligible for membership.
Related Posts- Environmental initiatives in Texas
- EPA awards nearly $2 million in environmental justice grants
- Carbon Disclosure Project releases environmental analysis of world’s largest corporations
- Top Fox News official orders correspondents to cast doubt on climate change
- Maryland schools set to adopt environmental literacy programs
We at the Society of Environmental Journalists are flattered that Propel Earth Initiative chose to highlight the work of our group, but we must correct several statements in your posting.
The author of the post recast information that was on our website two or three years ago, and – deliberately or not – has created the impression that we are environmental activists, which we are most emphatically not.
Specifically, SEJ is NOT part of the “green movement,” nor are our 1500+ members a “cadre of environmentalist-journalists,” nor did SEJ’s founders form the group out of “a common cause: environmentalism.” We cannot and do not take any positions whatsoever on environmental issues.
We also don’t “seek to compel” our members to provide excellent coverage, although we certainly hope they do.
In the description of SEJ’s publication, Watchdog Tipsheet, your writer attributes to SEJ the news that “the public domain has progressively lost track of some hazardous chemical sites.” That’s not something SEJ has charged. We have reported that shortly after the attacks of September 11, 2001, the federal government took down many websites which posted information about chemical plants, nuclear power plants, underground pipelines and the like, all in the name of national security.
For the record, I am the current president of SEJ, and Tim Wheeler is now the immediate past president. Carolyn Whetzel is the First Vice President and Programs Chair, Peter Fairley is Second Vice President and Membership Chair, Don Hopey is the Treasurer and Peter Thomson is the Secretary.
SEJ is a 501c3 non-profit educational organization. SEJ’s vision is: “credible and robust journalism that informs and engages society on environmental issues,” and SEJ’s mission is: “to strengthen the quality, reach and viability of journalism across all media to advance public understanding of environmental issues.”
In the past few years, our membership has grown to more than 1500 journalists, students and teachers who cover the environment. No one can be an SEJ member if s/he lobbies or does public relations on environmental issues. Additionally, as your post accurately reflects, we have a strict financial firewall ensuring that SEJ does not accept funding from business, the government, or environmental groups.
I don’t mean to quibble about these things, but SEJ’s independence from any political or ideological influence is critical to our mission, our funding and our credibility.
Honestly, much as we appreciate the intended honor, SEJ does not qualify to be one of your “Leaders of the Green Movement.”
Christy George, SEJ President