David Poulson
Canadian federal environment officials are explicitly covered by an entry in Echo’s reporters’ guide: “We like Canadians. But good heavens they have an incredible government bureaucracy. You need a Canadian government source? Get hustling early in the reporting.”
That’s why I was unsurprised to read criticism of Environment Canada’s lack of transparency in the Sept. 25 Montreal Gazette. Canadian journalist Glen Blouin enumerates the increasing frustration he and his colleagues experience with the federal agency charged with environmental protection.
We feel their pain on this side of the border.
At Great Lakes Echo we aspire to bring before the public the best science behind the environmental issues affecting the 20 percent of the world’s fresh surface water shared by the U.S and Canada. That’s never an easy task, but it is especially difficult to get at the science produced by Canadian federal employees in a timely manner.
Or at all.
To help us make even long deadlines, Canadian scientists waiting for approval to comment have referred our reporters to university scientists who know of their work. That is nowhere near as good as getting it directly from the person who produced the science.
“I definitely avoided interviewing Canadian government employees because I knew I didn’t have the time to jump through all their hoops,” said former Echo reporter Sarah Coefield.
When Echo reporter Jeff Gillies asked a federal Canadian scientist about a study, he was referred to a media relations representative who insisted on seeing his questions. Gillies complied, assuming such a list was the prelude for getting an interview. Instead, a second media relations person e-mailed him answers.
When Gillies asked if he was going to get an interview, the response was “Not in this case, Jeff…this is the procedure.”
So he asked for some specifics on whatever procedure that was referenced. He received no response.
“I’m willing to play by their rules, but I have no idea what they are,” Gillies said. “And if an interview wasn’t permitted in ‘this case,’ when would one be?”
The frustration is building.
The Canadian Science Writers Association is asking for timely access to federal scientists. And Canadian news organizations are following the issue closely.
Frankly, I’d much rather read about the science than the politics.
It’s not like we don’t have access issues in the U.S. Battling for timely access to public officials doing the public’s work with public funding comes with the journalistic territory. But while our reporting guide may say to get hustling if you need an Environment Canada scientist as a source, nowadays we don’t see much reason to try.
That means we lose informed comment on or even awareness of some of the best science surrounding the enormous binational freshwater ecosystem that Echo strives to cover.
And that’s a shame for the publics of both of our countries.
David Poulson is the editor of Great Lakes Echo