Control Of Canadian Scientists At "Incredible Extremes"; May Need Privy Council OK To Speak To Press
Canadian government scientists are still being hampered from talking to the media about their taxpayer-funded research and that's bad news for the public, say groups representing both journalists and federal scientists.
The groups appealed to delegates at an international meeting of scientists in Vancouver on Friday, arguing that democracy depends on citizens having access to research so they can make informed decisions about government policy.
However, the audience did hear from Postmedia's veteran science journalist Margaret Munro and University of Victoria climate scientist Andrew Weaver, along with Francesca Grifo, a representative of the Union of Concerned Scientists who has worked to improve media access to government scientists in the U.S.
Munro said that during much of her career, it was easy to reach federal scientists to talk about their published research, but in recent years that has changed dramatically. Now, the government is taking control to "quite incredible extremes," she said, citing her own recent experiences and the information she obtained by filing access to information requests about the problem. Munro said federal scientists face many layers of approval before they can speak to the media, going all the way up to the Privy Council Office. "It would be sort of like asking the White House," she said.
EDIT
http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2012/02/17/science-federal-muzzling-scientists.html?cmp=rss
