Massachusetts Restricting State Scientists’ Communications
Massachusetts Restricting State Scientists’ Communications
On May 13, 2019, the Boston Globe’s environmental reporter, David Abel, published a story exposing Massachusetts’ censorship of state scientists. Under the current Governor of Massachusetts, Charlie Baker (R), state scientists must obtain permission from a state public relations person before speaking with journalists, but requests on a variety of environmental topics have been routinely denied or ignored.
Abel had contacted Andrew Vitz, the state ornithologist, requesting comment on a story about birds. Vitz accepted the invitation, but stipulated that Abel must obtain permission from a state public relations person first. Upon contacting Katie Gronendyke, a press secretary at the state Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, Abel was denied his request, and instead given a list of four pre-written bullet points of background information.
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This kind of barrier to the free flow of information is so disappointing. And in “enlightened” Massachusetts! Is scientific information so dangerous the state has to control it?