A Note on Press Freedom in Georgia
Dear Reader,
Last week, we got word that the University of Georgia First Amendment Law Clinic has suspended all work related to open records requests. This happened after the clinic took on our colleagues from the Atlanta Community Press Collective, who are suing the Atlanta Police Foundation to release "Cop City" public records.
The circumstances surrounding this pivot of the only pro-bono media freedom law clinic in the state has only become more confusing when UGA Law school dean Bo Rutledge announced that he is stepping down Monday morning.
This saga leaves us with more questions than answers:
- Was the decision politically related to "Cop City"?
- Was dean Bo Rutledge or his superiors pressured in any way to make this decision?
- What is the fate of Georgia Journalism and Access Project Attorney Samantha Hamilton, less than a year into her three-year, grant-funded position?
Investigative and accountability reporting of any beat heavily depend on Open Record Requests, and at times lawsuits if municpalities or agencies refuse to follow the spirit of "Sunshine" laws. For example, last November, Grist made a dataset on tribal jails in the U.S. available to journalists and the public after a hard-fought legal battle.
Getting the records is an arduous and expensive process: our colleagues at Appen Media have spent more than $35,000 in legal fees in its ongoing lawsuit against the City of Sandy Springs over access to information on police incident reports; that amount would exceed our 2023 budget!
This is why pro bono media legal support is so vital for independent, micronewsrooms like ourselves. Cutting it will create a chilling effect on small newsrooms, independent journalists, and concerned citizens across the state. We are all worse off.
This decision also forces The Xylom to reconsider its future operations, particularly whether I will return to Atlanta upon completion of the MIT Graduate Program in Science Writing.
The Xylom joins other Atlanta-based publishers and organizations in urging the incoming UGA Law School dean to reconsider this short-sighted decision.
Yours sincerely,
Alex Ip
Editor-in-Chief
TODAY IN THINGS YOU MUST READ
FAMILY NEWS!
- Welcome Kang-Chun Cheng, Editor-at-Large! Based in Nairobi, Kenya, KC will continue to contribute three to four photo features per year, centering on climate justice in the Global South.
- For The New York Times, Katrina Miller interviews entomologist Dr. Sammy Ramsey, a fan favorite of #SciWri24, who is trying to change the popular perception of cicadas.
A SOUTHERN FLAIR
- In just three weeks, Inside Climate News' Lee Hedgepeth has gone back-to-back-to-back with environmental justice stories in rural Alabama: Two centered on how Oak Grove, in the east central part of the state, has seen a deadly home explosion and subsequent lawsuit linked to noncompliant underground mining practices; the other is "How Alabama Turned to Restrictive Deed Covenants to Ward Off Flooding Claims From Black Residents".
- Months after Louisiana nonprofits were awarded dollars from the Inflation Reduction Act to increase air quality monitoring along "Cancer Alley" communities historically overburdened by pollution, a Republican-backed bill headed to the governor's desk will implement standards prohibiting the data collected from being used in enforcement or regulatory actions tied to the federal Clean Air Act. More from Floodlight:
- What is the Georgia Environmental Finance Authority and what does it matter? We're glad you asked: the AJC's Meris Lutz has a useful explainer.
- You may have seen Atlanta's Emory University being on the news a lot recently. This week, its Honor Council suspended students for building an award-winning, school-funded, and campus-advertised AI flashcard tool for unfounded fears of "cheating". 404 Media has more details on the madness.
- In South Texas, mangroves are growing further north due to climate change, acting as an anchor against sea level rise while encroaching into marsh habitats. The Texas Tribune's Emily Foxhall wades into the muck.
WHAT ELSE WE'RE READING
- Here's another entry in the running for "the best longform science feature we've read this year": From The New Yorker, Rachel Aviv's "A British Nurse Was Found Guilty of Killing Seven Babies. Did She Do It?" is an increasingly disturbing read.
- Grist takes the temperature on how water-guzzling data centers is straining Northern Virginia, the data center capital of the globe.
- Bustle's Kate Lindsay has a fascinating piece on how real-time location tracking apps like Find My have introduced new dimensions and tensions into relationships.
Like this newsletter? Share it with a friend and subscribe below!
THE XYLOM'S RECENT STORIES
In Rural Western Uganda, A Tree-Planting Initiative Shows Signs of Life
- In rural Western Uganda, an ambitious collaboration between Ecosia, Jane Goodall Institute Uganda, and residents to grow 200,000 trees in the Budongo-Bugoma Corridor is reaping the rewards for people and wildlife. A solutions photo feature from Kang-Chun Cheng:
Perspective: Am I Invasive?
- Check out an exclusive excerpt of Ayurella Horn-Muller's new book, "Devoured: The Extraordinary Story of Kudzu, the Vine That Ate the South," where she detangles the complicated stories of the South's fickle relationship with kudzu, and hers with the South.
A Moonshot to Cure Angelman Syndrome is Reachable. Where are the People Counting on It?
- Just one faulty gene leads to Angelman syndrome, characterized by a happy demeanor and developmental disabilities. A cure is coming, but identifying patients in Hong Kong and ensuring they can access treatments is hard. More in our Rare Disease Day coverage by Crystal Chow, supported by The National Press Foundation’s Covering Rare Diseases Fellowship:
Ayden Can’t Speak. Lead Poisoning is Probably to Blame.
- Meet Ayden. He’s 8 and no longer speaks. He has tantrums when frustrated and does not play with other children at school. In 2019, his parents learned that his lead levels were 20 times the current federal level of concern. How did this happen? (via MLK50)
“Cheetahs Arriving by Plane Does Not Make It a Restoration Project”(NOW AVAILABLE IN KANNADA)
- Yet another death has cast doubt on the future of India's ambitious and controversial cheetah reintroduction program. Pragathi Ravi looks into where flaws in the underlying science and transparency issues have doomed the initiative from the start.