Mediated Access Transparency Barriers for Journalists’ Access to Scientists and Scientific Information at Government Agencies

The report details a survey of 254 science writers conducted by the Union of Concerned Scientists and the Society of Professional Journalists. It examines the role of public information officers (PIOs) in mediating access to government scientists, finding that while PIOs are generally helpful during crises and in meeting deadlines, they often impose restrictions such as requiring approval for interviews, monitoring conversations, and routing requests away from specific experts. The analysis suggests that science agencies may be more open than other government sectors, though a majority of respondents believe these barriers prevent the public from receiving all necessary information.

• Public information offices (PIOs) frequently act as gatekeepers, with 54% of science writers reporting they are required to obtain PIO approval before interviewing employees 'most or all of the time'.
• Monitoring of interviews is a common practice; 57.8% of science writers report that PIOs or administration officials monitor their interviews in person or via telephone at least some of the time.
• Journalists experience various barriers to timely access, including requests being selectively routed to different employees (18.4% most or all of the time) and being blocked from interviewing experts (46.1% at least some of the time).
• During emergency or crisis situations, PIOs are generally effective at disseminating information via websites and social media, with 51.6% of respondents stating information was posted within hours.
• Science writers are more successful at bypassing PIOs to interview experts (32.2% most or all of the time) compared to local (17.6%), education (21.3%), and federal (15%) reporters.
• A majority of surveyed science journalists believe that government-imposed barriers to reporting prevent the public from accessing all necessary information (56.8% agreement).
• Agency-specific experiences vary, with NASA and NOAA described as having better press practices, while the EPA is frequently characterized as restrictive or 'stonewalling'.

APA

Bailin, D., Carlson, C., Halpern, M., Huertas, A., & Kothari, Y. (2015). Mediated Access Transparency Barriers for Journalists’ Access to Scientists and Scientific Information at Government Agencies. Union of Concerned Scientists. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/attach/2015/08/ucs-mediated-access-appendices-2015.pdf

Chicago

Bailin, Deborah, Carolyn Carlson, Michael Halpern, Aaron Huertas, and Yogin Kothari. Mediated Access Transparency Barriers for Journalists’ Access to Scientists and Scientific Information at Government Agencies. Union of Concerned Scientists, 2015. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/attach/2015/08/ucs-mediated-access-appendices-2015.pdf.

Wikipedia

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BibTeX

@techreport{bailin2015mediated, author = {Bailin, Deborah and Carlson, Carolyn and Halpern, Michael and Huertas, Aaron and Kothari, Yogin}, title = {{Mediated Access Transparency Barriers for Journalists’ Access to Scientists and Scientific Information at Government Agencies}}, institution = {Union of Concerned Scientists}, year = {2015}, month = aug, url = {https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/attach/2015/08/ucs-mediated-access-appendices-2015.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }