SEJ Presidents Report

SEJ President Don Hopey explains his glass-half-full look at the maturing of the environment beat and its growing importance in everyday life.

SEJ President Don Hopey, after seeing the movie “Gravity,” likened reporters to astronauts in the film – out there all alone, a journalistic generation lost in space. But we are doing good work – both on our jobs and in our organization.

People care about the information they get. But the public isn’t getting what it needs from federal and state agencies where, during crisis events and day-to-day operations, agencies work harder at controlling the information that reaches the public than they do at gathering and making it available. Read more from SEJ President Don Hopey.

SEJ returns to Chattanooga, Oct. 2-6, for its 23rd annual conference, this time building on and highlighting the city's sustainability theme, which has entered its second generation and garnered worldwide recognition. SEJ President Don Hopey explains.

SEJ President Don Hopey reminds us it’s good to remember that environmental journalism can play an important role in digging out the information an increasingly distracted public needs to make tough policy decisions about their environment and health.

SEJ President Don Hopey passes along some results from SEJ’s fall 2012 member survey, and also an update on the board’s just-launched review of our organization’s programs and services, an effort we are calling, not without some hope (or is it hype?) — “SEJ 3.0.”

SEJ President Don Hopey offers a round-up of tales from SEJ's 22nd annual conference in Lubbock and explains the SEJ board of directors' thoughts on SEJ's future.

SEJ President Carolyn Whetzel explains results of a research project underwritten by the Brainerd Foundation to identify SEJ’s strengths and weaknesses, which served as a basis for a discussion on a strategic path for the organization over the next three years.

At its January 28, 2012 meeting, SEJ’s board of directors took steps to increase revenues and cut expenses for the short term as the board and staff pursue effectiveness studies and efforts to bring in new unrestricted gifts, new foundation grants, new university and media support, and new earned income. Read more from SEJ President Carolyn Whetzel.

SEJ President Carolyn Whetzel discusses a recent project by Columbia Journalism Review and ProPublica which revealed it’s not just SEJ members who have a tough time gaining access to federal information or scheduling interviews with scientists or other experts at federal agencies.