Extra!
The production schedule of a quarterly magazine works against including
late-breaking news. Earth Island Journal hits the newsstands about
three weeks after the document is sent to our printers. Do you remember
what the top news story was three weeks ago?
If we want breaking news between the Journal‘s
covers, we have to get hold of a story several months before the rest
of the world catches on. Still, we managed to scoop the New York Times at least twice last year, thanks to the diligence of our contributors. On January 19, 2004 the Times ran a front-page story describing the decline in populations of several
Indian vulture species due to the use of the anti-inflammatory drug
diclofenac to treat cattle. The Times story reported on a study
that week in Nature, one of the most prestigious scientific journals in
the world. And we published the story four months earlier, in October
2003, courtesy of stellar environmental writer Joe Eaton.
In April 2003, we published “Bush’s bizarre science,” which covered the
Bush Administration’s unprecedented attack on scientists and scientific
panels by squelching the work of dedicated government scientists and by
stacking science panels with right-wing activists. A mere ten months
later, in February 2004, the New York Times picked up the story.
While we’re proud of these coups, we certainly don’t gauge our success by how often we scoop the Times.
Our purpose is to pursue stories we decide are important for our
readers to know about, with an emphasis on subjects other publications
aren’t covering. Beating the paper of record to a few stories is just a
nearly unavoidable bonus.
Our chief asset in our search for new stories is you, O Reader. Most things we print in Earth Island Journal start out as ideas pitched to us by volunteer contributors, pieces of
information forwarded by Earth Island members and other readers, or
full-blown articles that people decide they just have to get written
down.
In other words, we can’t do this without you. We’re always looking for
those untold stories, the hidden side of an environmental issue or a
struggle to defend a place that many Americans haven’t heard of, and we
need your help to bring us those stories. If you’re a writer, give us a
call with your pitch. If you’re not a writer but have a compelling
story for us to dig into, do likewise.
Thanks, Léonie
This issue was produced with the capable and enthusiastic help of
intern Léonie Sherman, who now departs to attend the UC Berkeley School
of Journalism. Perhaps “depart” is the wrong word: Léonie is already
hard at work on articles for upcoming issues of EIJ, in keeping with
our grand tradition of contributions by Journal interns emeritus.
Our intern program continues with Mills College graduate and compelling
writer Sara Knight. We’re always looking for more interns: if you’d
like to add a production cycle at Earth Island Journal to your curriculum vitae, drop me a line at cclarke@earthisland.org.
We don’t have a paywall because, as a nonprofit publication, our mission is to inform, educate and inspire action to protect our living world. Which is why we rely on readers like you for support. If you believe in the work we do, please consider making a tax-deductible year-end donation to our Green Journalism Fund.
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