Panel of science, health journalists will discuss government transparency in webcast panel
Filed under: Government, Health journalism, Health policy, Public health, Studies
A panel at the National Press Club this afternoon, which will be webcast, will look at government transparency when it comes to science news.
Six journalists, including AHCJ board member Felice Freyer, will take part. Representatives of the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Health and Human Services and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy have been invited.
The moderator is Seth Borenstein, science reporter for The Associated Press. The other speakers include Curtis Brainard, CJR’s science editor; Joseph Davis, Society of Environmental Journalists; Darren Samuelsohn, Politico’s senior energy and environment reporter and Clothilde Le Coz, Reporters Without Borders.
The panel will be webcast at 3 p.m. ET.
From the event description:
Access Denied: Science News and Government Transparency
Has the Obama administration lived up to its promise to make science more transparent and accessible to the public? An investigation in the current issue of Columbia Journalism Review finds that despite President Obama’s early promise to create an open government, the nation’s science reporters feel there has been little to no progress since the Bush administration.
The panel discussion is free and open to the public. It is cosponsored by the National Press Club, CJR, SEJ, and Reporters Without Borders. A cash-bar reception will follow.
Public becoming more active in pursuit of goverment information, media less active
The public’s interest in government transparency is growing and citizens are “becoming more active in asserting their right to government information,” according to a new survey from the Media Law Resource Center and the National Freedom of Information Coalition.
The survey also found, perhaps less surprisingly, that news organizations are less likely to sue for access to public information because of a lack of resources.
The new findings include both good news and bad, said Kenneth F. Bunting, executive director of the National Freedom of Information Coalition.
“If ordinary citizens are becoming more aware of their access rights, and more assertive regarding them, it is indeed a reason to be gratified,” he said. “However, if news organizations are trending toward being less gung-ho in an area once regarded as a matter of responsibility and stewardship, there is the frightening potential that journalism could suffer, as could the health of our democracy.”
Among the findings:
- Media lawyers and representatives of the NFOIC member coalitions said they had seen an increased number of open government violations in recent years.
- The number of open records requests made by private citizens and other non-media organizations has increased.
- 60 percent of media lawyers surveyed noted a decrease in open government lawsuits by media organizations over the past five years.
The survey also looked at the prevalence and effectiveness of FOI hotlines, finding that they “got generally high marks from all respondents.”
Read more:
- Press release
- Results of both surveys (PDF)
- Results of survey to media lawyers (PDF)
- Results of survey to NFOIC members (PDF)
(Hat tip to Joey Senat, Ph.D.)
POGO fears disclosure rule is in jeopardy
Filed under: Conflicts of interest, Public records
A database that would document the financial ties between researchers who are funded by the The National Institutes of Health and medical companies is in jeopardy, according to the Project on Government Oversight (POGO).
Under the proposed requirement, NIH-funded researchers at medical schools and universities would have to publicly disclose their financial ties to medical companies. In March, POGO sent a letter to Dr. Francis Collins, the Director of the NIH, urging him to implement this idea, which he had shown support for.
But POGO is concerned that the White House’s Office of Management
and Budget may weaken or block the rule. The organization has sent a letter to the OMB director in support of the rule.
Previously: NIH Proposes Rule to Shine Light on Potential Conflicts of Interest
Ontario considers exempting some hospital records from FOI law
Filed under: Health journalism, Hot Health Headline, Public records
Legal Feeds blogger Glenn Kauth, of the Canadian Law Times, reports that Ontario’s legislature is currently considering a law containing a little-known provision that would exempt from FOI law “information provided to, or records prepared by, a hospital committee for the purpose of assessing or evaluating the quality of health care and directly related programs and services provided by the hospital” starting Jan. 1, 2012 (scroll down to Schedule 15).
The leader of a provincial nurses’ organization took issue with the provision, telling the London Free Press that “The public has a right to know what’s happening in its local hospitals,” but Ontario health officials say hospitals need the exemption.
Health Minister Deb Matthews has defended the move to exempt information related to quality of care from public release. According to the Free Press, Matthews believes subjecting hospitals and doctors to greater scrutiny would prevent open dialogue about problems and how to fix them. “They must have a very open and frank discussion,” she said.
(Hat tip to Paul Levy, whose post on the matter also has some great first-hand material from Denmark)
AHCJ joins objections to proposed cuts to federal transparency websites
Filed under: Government, Health policy, Public records
All eyes are on the federal budget negotiations today, with most attention focused on whether or not an impasse will lead to a government shutdown. But thousands of people have expressed concern over proposed budget reductions to a number of data transparency and government accountability programs.
The Sunlight Foundation says, “The budget for Data.gov,USASpending.gov, the IT Dashboard, and other data transparency and government accountability programs funded through the Electronic Government Fund would be slashed from $34 million to $2 million if the Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act passed by the House or considered by the Senate became law.”
The Association of Health Care Journalists has added its name to a letter organized by the Sunlight Foundation objecting to the proposed cuts and asking that Congress sustain funding for the programs.
Those interested in signing the letter or otherwise contacting congressional representatives to weigh in on the topic can visit the Sunlight Foundation’s page.
Public Letter: Save Online Transparency Programs (updated 4/2/2011)
Presidents of AHCJ, SPJ call for more openness from Obama administration
The presidents of the Association of Health Care Journalists and the Society of Professional Journalists published an op-ed in The Washington Post this morning, criticizing the lack of openness within the Obama administration and calling on officials to improve the flow of information to journalists and the public.
Charles Ornstein
“Democrats criticized the Bush administration for not making decisions based on the best science,” wrote AHCJ’s Charles Ornstein and SPJ’s Hagit Limor. “But the Obama administration now muzzles scientists and experts within federal agencies. When they are allowed to talk about important public health issues, a chaperone often supervises every word. These constraints keep the public from learning whether decisions are science-based or politically motivated.”
AHCJ has been very active in advocating for government openness, including a recent series of meetings in Washington, D.C., with officials from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and its related agencies. The organization has urged the FDA to re-examine a policy that prohibits reporters from sharing embargoed materials with sources before the embargo lifts for the purpose of obtaining outside comment and context. Board members from AHCJ also have worked with state health directors to encourage dissemination of more information during public health outbreaks.
“We remain hopeful that our ongoing conversations with HHS and its agencies will help improve the current climate, which isn’t working for journalists or the public,” Ornstein said. “Our members are interested in timely, meaningful responses to their questions, additional access to scientists and health experts, and speedier responses to their Freedom of Information Act requests.”
Allen looks at present, future of Nev. transparency
Filed under: Hospitals, Hot Health Headline, Member news
Writing for the Las Vegas Sun, reporter Marshall Allen put a fitting cap on an award-winning investigative run at the paper with a story rounding up the state’s first steps toward transparency in medical error reporting. Through the lens of former Beth Israel Deaconess chief, transparency pioneer and blogger Paul Levy, Allen demonstrates just how much transparency in Nevada could benefit both hospitals and their patients. It’s potential that was created, in no small part, through the reporting that Allen and Alex Richards have done.
Over the course of the Sun’s two-year investigation, most Las Vegas hospitals refused to discuss patient safety issues. The Nevada Hospital Association has since 2002 lobbied against mandated public reporting of patient harm. But since the Sun’s investigation, and with legislation pending, the association has said it will begin posting patient injury and infection data on its hospital quality website.
Throughout the piece, Allen paints a sunny picture of a more transparent future, and uses examples from Massachusetts to dissolve any reservations readers might have.
Dr. Tejal Gandhi, Partners’ director of patient safety, said at first there was panic over posting on the hospitals’ websites the infections and injuries suffered by patients. People worried there would be a media frenzy or a rise in malpractice lawsuits, she said.
When the information became public, in 2009, The Boston Globe published one story but there was little other reaction, she said.
The hospitals have seen no increase in malpractice lawsuits. But it has brought a new focus on reducing certain infections and injuries, including the formation of task forces and establishment of standardized safety protocols.
Allen, who recently took a job with ProPublica, completed part of this series while on an AHCJ Media Fellowship on Health Performance, supported by the Commonwealth Fund. The series, which was reported with Richards, won a 2010 Award for Excellence in Health Care Journalism, the investigative reporting category in the 2010 Scripps Howard Awards, best in show for the print category of the National Headliner Awards and the 2011 Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting.
Survey: Only half of federal agencies have better FOI procedures
Filed under: Government, Health data, Health journalism, Public records, Tools
A report from the Knight Open Government Survey found that, despite some progress, federal agencies are only halfway there when it comes to delivering on the president’s day-one promise to improve FOIA procedures and openness across the board.
There is some cause for optimism there, as last year that number was about 14 percent. For the curious, Knight also provided a full PDF of how the 90 different agencies in the survey stacked up.
But before I highlight a few health-related entries, I can’t resist pointing out the survey’s methodology section, which will help explain how the results are organized.
The 2011 Knight Open Government Survey team filed FOIA requests with the 90 federal agencies that have chief FOIA officers, asking for copies of concrete changes in their FOIA regulations, manuals, training materials, or processing guidance as a result of the “Day One” Obama memorandum, and the March 2010 White House memorandum from then-Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and White House Counsel Bob Bauer. The Emanuel-Bauer memo told agencies to 1) update all FOIA material, and 2) assess whether FOIA resources were adequate.
The key takeaway then is that this is a measure of administrative regulation, and not one focused on responsiveness to actual FOIA requests beyond the one used to create each data point. With that in mind, here’s how our friends at health-related agencies stack up.
Concrete action on two steps
- DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
- OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY & HEALTH REVIEW COMM.
- DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS
Concrete action on one step
- OFFICE OF NATIONAL DRUG CONTROL POLICY
- DEFENSE NUCLEAR FACILITIES SAFETY BOARD
- FEDERAL MINE SAFETY & HEALTH REVIEW COMM.
- NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
No final response to FOIA request
- COUNCIL ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
- PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE
No acknowledgement of FOIA request
- CHEMICAL SAFETY & HAZARD INVESTIGATION BRD.
Freedom of Information Audits and Government Transparency from Knight Foundation on Vimeo.
FOI blog to follow throughout the year
Long after Sunshine Week has passed us by we recommend keeping an eye on the Art of Access blog (RSS feed). 
Created by Charles Davis and David Cuillier as a companion to the book of the same name, it’s a regularly updated source of rock-solid news and analysis. Davis, a professor at the Missouri School of Journalism (where AHCJ is based), is the former* executive director of the National Freedom of Information Coalition. University of Arizona professor Cuillier is the chairman of the Society of Professional Journalists’ Freedom of Information Committee.
*An earlier version of this post referred to Davis as the executive director of NFOIC. Ken Bunting has held that position since July 1, 2010. Our apologies for the mistake.
AHCJ leaders hold series of media access meetings with government officials
Filed under: Government, Health journalism, Public health
AHCJ representatives held a series of meetings in Washington, D.C., last week to press for government openness at the state and federal levels.
AHCJ President Charles Ornstein and board member Felice Freyer (chair of the organization’s Right to Know Committee) met with representatives of the Health and Human Services Department, the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, as well as 12 newly appointed state health directors organized by the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.
The federal officials professed a commitment to openness, within limits, and promise to look into specific requests to further that goal. The state health officials, who heard a panel presentation about working effectively with reporters, were receptive and eager to talk with AHCJ about building relationships at the state level.
Read more for details from each meeting …
Related
Freyer will moderate a panel on this topic, “Right to know: Getting information from government agencies,” at Health Journalism 2011. The panel features Peter Ashkenaz, director of communications, FDA Office of Regulatory Affairs; Lisa Chedekel, senior writer and co-founder, Connecticut Health I-Team; Lucy A. Dalglish, executive director, Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press; and Lilian Peake, M.D., M.P.H., director, Thomas Jefferson Health District, Virginia Department of Health.
- Reporter runs into wall requesting public records from FDA
- AHCJ asks FDA to re-evaluate embargo policy
- Health officials, journalists agree information is key in public health crisis
- Journalists, officials discuss information released in public health emergencies
- Committee works to improve access to experts, officials
- Health journalists cite uneven disclosure of H1N1 deaths across country
- Major journalism groups demand agency end newsgathering constraints
- AHCJ objects to federal agencies’ handling of story embargo
- AHCJ calls on new administration to improve access to federal experts
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