I just spend a few moments looking around the web for the writings of Keith Schneider, a former national correspondent for the New York Times and still a regular freelance contributor. A crusading journalist, his crusade is in large part, I infer from recent stuff he’s written, to tell the public about consequences of how we get natural resources and energy for factories and home, cars and airplanes. He seems to be a good illustration of the scramble among serious and purpose-driven investigative journalists to find outlets for their work. Yes, there still is the occasional newspaper job, and a lot more at genuine (old school) magazines and their equivalents on line. But they are fewer. But other avenues are in play.
What set me off was to receive an email from a magazine, carrying a link:
- OnEarth – Keith Schneider: Across America, the Fossil Fuel Industry Digs In for a Massive Expansion.
It appears fairly and extensively researched and is well-written. The topic is a river town in Ohio and its pursuit of plant to convert coal into aviation fuel and diesel. That is not the sort of thing that reduces greenhouse gases. It’s the sort of reporting I admire. But OnEarth is published by the Natural Resources Defense Council, a serious minded outfit but nonetheless an activist organization with clear aims to strengthen public policy protections for the natural environment. And several of the story’s bold-faced links are to pertinent NRDC activities and people. So this is, overtly, not a disinterested story. Is it journalism without need of qualification? I’d say no, but with little vehemence. It is hard to wag a finger at this piece.
One finds that Schneider is moving his stuff where he can. Earlier this year, one finds an extensive piece, datelined Inner Mongolia, at The Energy Collective site on water scarcity in China. The web page links to more of his pieces for this agency.
Plus, he is senior editor at another news-with-a-purpose site called Circle of Blue. On line there is yet another heavily reported enviro story’s Schneider co-wrote, Tar Sands Oil Production, An Industrial Bonanza, Poses Major Water Use Challenges. Circle of Blue is a new one on me, but a look at its staff page shows another familiar names – Peter Gleick, an important authority on water use, and also a politically active player in setting pertinent policy.
So, it looks like Schneider – whom I don’t recall ever meeting but don’t trust my recall, ever – has composed himself a busy and satisfying reporting career, complete with ability to send dispatches from remote places. AGain, is this journalism of the old school, non-partisan sort? I don’t think so but am ambivalent. More important, I don’t know that it matters in these shape- and career-shifting times. One can say that the stories reflect talent and devotion, and that this is just one example of the way by which able people are making their way in the new and nascent press. Whatever that is.
– Charlie Petit
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