Investigative Journalism or a Witchhunt?

In Frontline's story about the expose series the Spokesman-Review ran on Mayor Jim West, Editor Steven Smith said, "If he's [Mayor Jim West] engaged in this activity … we need to know that. If he's not -- there's no story." I took this to mean that the difference between a legitimate and illegitimate news story about scandal involving political official depends on whether or not that official is engaged in illegal activities. If they are, then it is a matter of public concern, but if they are simply engaged in a legal alternative lifestyle, then publicizing it would be more of tabloid-like than real journalism.
Reporter Bill Morlin justified the use of a concealed identity on Gay.com as part of The Spokesman-Review's and the FBI's "sting operation" because he did not participate in it personally. Doing so would have involved him in the story- which would be a violation of his publication's ethics. However, using information obtained by an independent private investigator was not in violation of his ethics- personal or professional. However, I question how he defines his ethics. I suspect that when that policy was written, it had more to do with honesty than technicalities. If you hire an assassin because murder is illegal, you'll still go to jail for murder if you get caught. It doesn't matter who pulls the trigger.
I think that when the story first surfaced to the The Spokesman-Review (pre-published) the paper felt an obligation to investigate. Although bias is not supposed to be a participant, I think that the Mayor's lifestyle choices and age interest contributed to his guilty image. Even though the Mayor maintained his innocence, I think that the adrenaline the journalists experienced for exposing a scandal in the government created a snowball effect that ultimately evolved into a witch-hunt instead of an unbiased quest for truth. I hate to mention it, but newspaper sales were also a likely factor.
The Spokesman-Review benefited at first because it exposed a corrupt politician, but the witch-hunt that ensued damaged its credibility. The scandal hurt the gay and lesbian community because it reinforced a profile stereotype of homosexuality linked to pedophilia. Yet, it may have helped advance gay rights in politics at the same time.
Mayor West lost his career, his reputation was ruined, and one could argue that the stress hurt his battle with cancer. Even though some argue that at least West did not have to hide his sexuality anymore, it was no one's right but his to decide whether or not to stay in the closet. West's guilt would have been the only factor to warrant his outing, and he was not proven guilty. If the difference between a legitimate and illegitimate story is the legality of activity in question, then why did this series appear in the Spokesman-Review as it did?
I think there are ethical problems in the organization of this series. Although journalists are expected to assert an element of scrutiny over the actions of public officials, making connections where there are none proven leads the public- rather than informing it.

Slime power could replace gas power

Algae could provide a viable alternative for fossil fuels in just a few year, experts say in a report by the Agence France-Presse.

The green, slimy water monger provides a good source of lipids, which scientists can extract energy from for bio fuel. Algae is a good source because it grows quickly in areas not used for agriculture: marshes, waste water, ponds, etc.

Commercial production could start by as early as 2011, Paul Woods, chief executive of Florida-based Algenol Biofuels said.

Some experts are skeptical that this is a hasty prediction. After decades of research, algae-fuel production costs are still too high for it to be a viable replacement for fossil fuel, but costs should drop as production increases, others say.

Researchers are also examining how algae fast consumption of carbon dioxide can be harnessed to make planes, trains and cars run cleaner, lessening the CO2 footprint in the future.

Personal Profile

Use of natural light from the large windows in the new environmentally friendly dorm saves enough electricity in one year to light Martin Stadium for 233 hours straight. This “green” fact is one of several artfully displayed on the walls throughout the new Olympia Avenue dormitory at WSU.
The dorm’s fresh, exposed interior highlights the different energy-saving components it offers, including a geo-thermal heating and cooling system, water-saving toilets and showers, reused wood, a gas fireplace, indoor bicycle storage, and carpet and furniture made from renewable and recycled materials.
The Olympia is the first of seven environmentally sustainable dorms WSU will build over the next four years. The popular dorm received more than twice as many residence applications than its 229 beds could accommodate—before it even opened in August 2009.
Junior Anthony Smith, 20, The Olympia hall president, applied for his room back in March 2009.
“I got a double with a full bath,” Smith said. “I lived in Gannon-Golds for two years and then I switched over here—[this is a] HUGE difference.”
WSU President Floyd decided freshmen needed higher-quality stays, after he surveyed the living environment when he came to WSU, according to WSU Vice President of Economic Development and Global Engagement John Gardner.
“President Floyd wanted to upgrade the quality of life for new students,” Gardner said.
According to the WSU Sustainability Initiative, President Floyd appointed the Sustainability and Environment Committee, to provide leadership and guidance in “planning, development, organization, and implementation of the programs supporting the [Initiative].
“[WSU] Facilities and Operations will try to put in place a continued renovation of everything,” Gardner said.
He said affordability and the kind of living a building will offer should be illustrated and exemplified in how each new building is constructed and operated.
Sustainability means “leaving it there for the next generation,” Karl Englund, assistant research professor for the Composite Materials and Engineering Center said. “It’s about minimizing effect and utilizing materials correctly and wisely.”
Englund said planners need to assess consumption and design when evaluating whether to revamp an old structure or build one from scratch. He said cost is not just financial—it includes the energy used to create new building materials and dispose of old ones.
“There is a lot more to it than the bricks and the plywood and stuff,” Englund said. “The energy that goes into creating a zero energy house from scratch will take 18-20 years to balance out.”
Reusing old materials and products is one way to save the energy costs of recycling. WSU Capital Planning and Development wanted to involve students in the dorm project, according to Robert Barnstone, associate professor at the School of Architecture and Construction Management. Barnstone’s specialty is in efficient and sustainable recycled materials development.
“We wanted to be able to do something for the building that was unique and sustainable,” Barnstone said. Capital Planning held a student contest to design something sustainable for the new dorm, and his students won, he said.
Students Josh Lafreniere and Dan Blohowiak designed and built a conference table out of reused materials for the dorm’s community room on the ground floor. “They designed it fairly quickly,” Barnstone said. “But building it took almost a whole semester.” The students used glue-lams (laminated support beams) for the table top, and scrap metal and a piece of electrical conduit (pipe) for the base.
“It’s fair to say that any building that we build or renovate has these [sustainability] dimensions in mind,” Gardner said.
The Compton Union building that opened in fall 2008 is Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified and Olympia Avenue is registered for a LEED certification.
“The new dorm is likely to receive the silver rating,” Gardner said.
Everything we do has a consequence,” Englund said about sustainability methods, consumption, and ecological footprints. “We just have to be aware [of] the butterfly effect.”
Buildings on campus were generally built with the most sustainable technology available at the time, according to Gardner, and many of the buildings on campus have been retrofitted with energy-saving technologies.
“How they are implemented and where, will depend on their use and economic sustainability,” Gardner said. “Those decisions are made with every new structure and every new renovation.”


Sources:
Anthony Smith anthony.smith@email.wsu.edu
Karl Englund englund@wsu.edu
John Gardner gardnerj@wsu.edu
Robert Barnstone 509-335-8196
WSU Sustainability Initiative
Sustainability and Environment Committee

Personal Profile Proposals

Lawrence Pintak- Founding Dean, College of Com, lpintak@wsu.edu Comm Add 101, Pullman, 509-335-8535

Pintak was a war correspondent for many years. He spoke recently about the change in the journalism standard and practice of foreign coverage. I think a profile of Pintak would highlight the bigger issue regarding the inadequacies of foreign correspondence and war coverage, and how mass media's practices and concerns affect news content and quality.

David Demers- Professor, Communication, Murrow East 219b, Pullman, 509-335-5608, ddemers@wsu.edu

As a professor and student advisor, Demers has guided student journalists to pursue investigations despite resistance from administration. He encouraged his students to take a denied FOIA request to court and win against the university they were attending. Demers is an interesting and engaging person, and his experience demonstrates the issue of university politics and censorship efforts interfering with student journalism. This issue is not isolated to that university. Many educational institutions attempt to interfere with undesirable student reporting.

Other ideas:

John Gardner, Vice President Economic Development and Global Engagement, gardnerj@wsu.edu
Mike Wolcott- Director of Institute for Sustainable Design, 509-335-6392, wolcott@wsu.edu
Toni Nelson, ACUPCC Program Director, Second Nature, 859-940-2545, tnelson@secondnature.org
The new WSU dorms that are supposedly completely eco-friendly and energy efficient

Community members creatively revitalize small town

UNIONTOWN, Wa.—Community volunteers had to remove 50 years worth of pigeon poop, decades of broken farm equipment and several layers of cement flooring before they could start to convert a 1935 dairy barn into an artisan center.
The two-year barn overhaul was part of the Uniontown Community Development Association’s (UCDA) project that involved 35-40 people “getting together to move the town forward,” local volunteer Sam Kimble said. The project was designed in-part to attract more people to the town, which has fewer than 500 residents, but is only about 15 minutes from Pullman, Lewiston, Clarkston and Moscow.
Resident artists Steve & Junette Dahmen donated the unused barn to the town in 2004. Artist Franceen Hermanson said the Dahmens wanted the community to use the barn for the arts. She also said the Dahmens stipulated a condition that the town keep the surrounding antique-wheel fence that Steve Dahmen built over the last 20 years—a focal point of many local artisans' work.
Hermanson is one of 20 area artists who rent studios at the barn, which also hosts a store, classrooms and events like music and dancing.
“There is something going on there all the time,” She said.
Local Uniontown Community Club member Marvin Entel was the contractor on the barn project, and previously helped community members restore the 110-year-old Jacobs Brewery Building in the center of town in 2003. The Sage Bakery and Cafe moved into that building, which was also part of the UCDA’s revitalization project.
Uniontown history has had several periods of popularity and decline. It hosted a three-ring circus, had slot machines in the club in the 1940s, and had an opera house.
Uniontown firefighter and club member Gary Robinson said the club was on the verge of closing about five or six years ago, but “a lot of people stepped up and put money into it.”
Club President Gabriel Voller, who also volunteered on these projects and others, said locals meet at the club Monday-Wednesday mornings and the Sage Café Thursday-Sunday mornings.
Community Club members Robinson, Entel, Voller and others said that the community keeps Uniontown alive.

Contacts:

Phone numbers available via email
Sam Kimble
Franceen Hermanson
Marvin Entel
Gary Robinson
Gabriel Voller
Artisans at the Dahmen Barn website
Uniontown website 1
Uniontown website 2

Outline:

Lede: What they did-clean up barn
Who: community members
What: barn donated to be used as art studio and gallery- Artisan Barn
When: finished in 2006
Why: part of town revitalization project
Where: small town approximately 15 miles+/- from the quad cities, pop. fewer than 500

Environmental Cleanup Opportunity Grant Program- HB 1594

Jenn Weldy
9/24/09
HB 1594

Contacts:

Zach Hudgins (360) 786-7956

Deborah Eddy (360) 786-7848

Washington State Legislation moved more than $75 million out of the ECA [environmental cleanup account] to help fill the budget deficit, Rep. Zach Hudgins, D, said. Hudgins said he sponsored House Bill 1594 in an effort to preserve some of that money for environmental work.

Hudgins said the budget cuts “caused problems in the environment arena but it also caused problems in the tuition arena. … Not only do you need money but you need people too.”

Hudgins said there is a need to create jobs, scholarships and use the toxic cleanup account.
HB 1594 would have provided conditional grants to environmental students. The bill would have cost about $200,000 annually to implement.

“I knew we were going to be moving money out of the account and I wanted to preserve some of that for cleanup in the future,” Hudgins said. “When we’re talking about $75 million, $200,000 isn’t very much.”

The bill would have put the Higher Education Committee (HEC) in charge of implementing a process for distributing the grants. A bill cannot pass through the HEC without the approval of Committee Chair Rep. Deborah Wallace, D, Wallace did not support HB 1594 earlier this year when the legislation was in session, and could not be reached for comment.

Rep. Deborah Eddy, D, a member of the Ecology and Parks Committee and a co-sponsor of HB 1594 wrote in an email that she was not sure why Wallace rejected the bill, but that “it’s a good bet that it was at least partly a budgetary matter. Funds spent on this program would not be spent on other programs that she might consider more worldly.”

Hudgins said he thought Wallace did not want to use the fund for scholarships because it was intended for toxic cleanup—not education. He said he did not agree with Wallace’s concerns because the money was being used for the same thing, “and used very little,” he said.

Hudgins is on the Environmental Health Committee and represents environmental concerns for the Duwamish River, which has several contaminated sites.

“Many of them are from our industrial legacies,” Hudgins said. Sites like these all over Washington State need cleanup, and Hudgins said that preserving ECA funds with HB 1594 would help ensure cleanup and create jobs.
According to the bill’s digest, it “creates the environmental cleanup opportunity grant program to assist in the effort to recruit the next generation of environmental cleanup professionals.”

The bill would take funds from the State Toxics Control Account and other donations to create a conditional grant account. It would award 10 conditional scholarships annually to students pursuing environmental studies. The students would have to serve two years worth of full-time employment involved in environmental cleanup work in

Washington State within the first five years following graduation. If students did not, they would have to pay back the scholarship with interest and fees equivalent to a student loan.

“My goal was to create jobs, provide educational opportunities and to clean up toxic sites around the state all at the same time—without raising taxes,” Hudgins said, since there was already a funding source intended for toxic site cleanup.

Hudgins said he had a lot of support from both parties, and when the Legislation resumes session in January he plans to rewrite HB 1594.

Eddy wrote in an email that she would not likely co-sponsor the bill again without indication of Wallace’s support for the program.

Hudgins said he will make changes in how to better involve the different agencies, including the HEC.

“The department of ecology understands it better so they will be evaluating the criteria this time,” Hudgins said. “You perfect it as best as you can, you throw it out there … then the hearing is a perfection process.”

Northwest Toxic Communities Coalition

Speech Story- Dr. Susan Crockford

The site of 3,500 to 2,500 year old houses found at Amaknak Bridge is the only one of its kind in North America and its remains reveal new human and animal migration theories, Zooarchaeologist Dr. Susan Crockford said Thursday at Washington State University (WSU) during her presentation about her fieldwork at the Unalaskan Island site threatened by road construction.
“These houses had actual chimneys with a fire hearth at the bottom—built into the wall. It’s a style of structure that is not seen anywhere else,” Crockford said.
The site had several houses up against each other that had covered rock-lined channels in the floor leading to the fire place. Crockford said some archaeologists there attributed the channels to central heating, but “my interpretation is that these are actually drafts to keep an open fire burning under really windy conditions.”
Crockford’s presentation, “Climate change in the North Pacific: Zoogeographical implications of mid-Holocene sea ice expansion in the Bering Sea,” explained how certain species of animal remains from 3,500 to 2,500 years ago proved that the Eastern Aleutian Island climate and landscape was arctic due to a neo-glacial ice expansion of the Bering Sea from 4,700 to 2,500 years ago.
Crockford said the climate conditions present when the site was occupied 3,500 to 2,500 years ago were very similar to those today in the Bering Strait. The sea ice was so far south that it created an arctic environment in the Eastern Aleutians. Crockford said it was “an unprecedented situation in historic times—that’s for sure."
Of the 76 species of birds, and land and sea mammals Crockford identified, many breed only in certain seasons and climatic environments. The abundance of certain juvenile and infant remains, such as the ringed, bearded and fur seals proved the ice must have been present as late as June or July most years, Crockford said.
Archaeologist Dr. Colin Grier, an assistant professor at WSU, said he “liked that she used a single site to re-open an old question—how did the Thule (pre-Inuit) actually populate the entire North American Arctic?”
Grier said Crockford did not present global climate data to back her theory and he was skeptical of Crockford’s use of a lack of sites in the Bering Sea as evidence to prove the area was iced over.
Grier also said he did not agree that the Thule were descendents of Aleut, but more “likely a conglomerate of many peoples and cultural practices that came together about 2,000 years ago in the Bering Strait.”
Crockford said people with a culture distinctly adapted to arctic conditions and hunting, “including whales (The Thule People),” migrated across the arctic from Alaska to Greenland about 1,000 years ago.
“This site was occupied well before that time but has many similar artifact elements,” she said.
Grier said there was still unexplained data, but the presentation was interesting and well-delivered.
“The intertwining of ice floes (sic), human movement/adaptation and climate was great,” Grier said. “What stood out was the uniqueness and significance of the site, and although not amplified in the talk, that the site is now trashed to make way for a new bridge, so we will learn nothing more.”
Crockford said her team carefully surveyed a small portion of the site for as much archaeological data as possible. She said she cringed at the thought of a bunch of graduate students hacking the site apart with a gardening tool—others that examined it later quickly unearthed the rest with a back hoe to get a more general gist of the site as a whole.
"It actually was a salvage project,” Crockford said. “They were rerouting the road leading to the airport. It was a big job—I think they allowed 6 months to excavate as much as could be done in this site, and then they were going to bulldoze the whole thing."
Dr. Crockford is a Zooarchaeologist with Pacific Identifications Inc., Victoria, B.C., Canada.


Contacts:
Dr. Susan Crockford, sjcrock@shaw.ca, http://pacificid.com/
Dr. Colin Grier, cgrier@wsu.edu, http://www.libarts.wsu.edu/anthro/faculty/grier.html

Questions:

1. What did you find most interesting about your research at Amaknak Bridge? Why is it a "career highlight?"
2. What does having a chimney built into the house mean for the site? Was it the earliest such finding for North American Native people? Is it of regional significance or continental, or other?
3. Where does this site fit in the time-line of migration? does it?

Questions for Jonathan Randal

1. Have you ever faced an ethical dilemma where you had to choose between remaining objective to the situation and writing about it, and putting aside your notepad and pen to act in the welfare of others or yourself?

2. Some say Al Jazeera is biased against the West and others say it is more neutral and objective than Western media. Having spent so much time in Middle Eastern conflict areas, What is your first hand opinion?

3. Have you ever been censored, or completely suppressed, by a superior, governmental agency or your conscience for national security or the greater good?

4. What do you think will be the next big conflict?

5. What will your next book be about? When can consumers expect it?

Beat/Story Ideas

One of the more important issues today is the environment. WSU, like many other campuses is "going green" in a variety of ways, including recycling, research about sustainability, and using innovative eco-friendly building materials and designs. My beat will address environmental issues that are important on a wide scale, but with a specific connection to WSU. I think "green" issues are important to WSU students because most are aware they have the power to influence the condition of their environment, and many are concerned locally and globally.

In my beat, I plan to cover issues stemming from and influencing university research, student activities and campus renovations. Some key sources will be WSU researchers, student activism groups, administrators overseeing campus construction and budgeting, published and ongoing environmental impact studies, and WSU environmental press releases. I can cover this beat from Pullman because it is directly connected to WSU. The majority of my sources are local and easy to access. Other sources will be available online or via telephone.

WSU conducted a study that showed a connection between environmental toxins and inherited diseases like cancer and liver disease. I'll use the study to raise the issue about human exposure to chemicals in pesticides and fertilizers, and the organic trend.

• WSU Study Shows Environmental Toxins Can Cause Inherited Diseases Go beyond organic: Bliss serves up raw food with soul


• The foods you should definitely buy organic


• Keeping chemicals out of the classroom

An ever-growing popular trend is the switch from disposable water bottles to reusable ones. This is attributed to by an effort to create less waste for the planet to have to digest and to avoid harmful plastic chemicals such as BPA. This is of interest to WSU students because they are part of this trend, often spending $20 or more on a reusable bottle. This story will investigate the trend's origins, costs (locally, nationally, etc.) and connections to the environment.

• Choosing a reusable water bottle


• It’s the bottle that’s the trouble

Fuel is a hot topic for many students since even those who are not driving much now, will be when they graduate and start careers and commuting. WSU researchers are currently examining bio-fuels. Advances in bio-fuels could impact student pocketbooks and influence future car-buying decisions. This story will look into other alternative fuel sources, associated costs, supply and demand, and the effects it can have on students and the environment.

• Renewable Energy-Bio-fuels


• State looks at grasses, grains, wood products to produce fuel


• Clean Energy and Climate Change Law and You


• Research and Markets: Biomass Report - Market Research Report Ed 3 - 2009

Useful Sources:

• Cherie Winner, WSU News Service, 509-335-4846, cwinner@wsu.edu


• Mike Wolcott- Director of Institute for Sustainable Design, 509-335-6392, wolcott@wsu.edu


• Toni Nelson, ACUPCC Program Director, Second Nature, 859-940-2545, tnelson@secondnature.org


• WSU Green Media Resources


• John Gardner, Vice President Economic Development and Global Engagement, gardnerj@wsu.edu


• Howard Grimes, Dean of the Graduate School, Vice President for Research, grimes@wsu.edu


• Keith Jones, Director, Office of Intellectual Property, jonesk@wsu.edu


• Markus Flury, WSU professor of soil physics, 509-335-1719, flury@wsu.edu, $1 million grant for cleanup


• Jim Harsh, WSU professor of soil chemistry, 509-335-3650
  

Public Affairs Issue

Madonna booed in Bucharest for defending Gypsies
I think this is an interesting and well-written article that used an event to highlight an ongoing issue of racism and discrimination in Eastern Europe.

Caster Semenya- Public or Private Issue?

The International Association of Athletics Federations, I.A.A.F., challenged a female athlete's official sex and right to compete against other women, according to an essay in The New York Times by Alice Dreger, a professor of clinical medical humanities and bioethics in the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University. South African world champion runner Caster Semenya's sex was questioned in part because some say she is too man-like, athletically.

Dreger's essay detailed some of the biology commonly used to define male and female, and other biological factors that blur the definition. She wrote that the I.A.A.F. will determine Semenya's sex using a scientific team of various doctors and specialists, including an endocrinologist, gynecologist and psychologist. Dreger also questioned the guidelines for sex verification.

Is this issue a public affair?

Yes.

Not because Semenya's sex is something that should or should not be questioned. Not because she should or should not be allowed to compete against women. Not because the guidelines that differentiate between male and female are or are not accurate/biologically sound/ethical/etc.

The Semenya issue is a public affair because it asks those questions. It not only questions rules and guidelines that determine which competing class an athlete falls in within a sporting association, but it questions the very definition of sex. It questions biology. The results of this issue may impact similar arguments in other sports and arenas. These questions challenge the association between sex and gender, and what the many facets of those identities mean to people. These questions are a matter of general concern and interest because they reach beyond the sporting arena to the general public.

A Few Beat Interests...

• Science/Current research projects, advancements and new discoveries funded by WSU, or conducted by WSU faculty, students, etc.
• Crime/police reports in Pullman
• Local Politics/Small Government
• Education- all levels, including funding, programs, requirements etc.
• Environment- going green, pollution on the local level, advances and setbacks, affects on/ effects of agriculture, etc.