EHN announces new Editor-in-Chief

Environmental Health News announces new Editor-in-Chief and expanded mission.

Contact

Marla Cone 434-220-0348 ext 412 mcone@environmentalhealthnews.org
Douglas Fischer 434-220-0348 ext 413 dfischer@dailyclimate.org

Pete Myers 434-220-0348 ext 411 jpmyers@ehsic.org

FOR RELEASE 12:01 a.m. 15 SEPT 2008

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Award-winning environmental journalist Marla Cone has been named Editor-in-Chief of Environmental Health News (EHN), which is expanding to provide its own journalistic content.  This new content will add significantly to what has become EHN's signature product, a daily aggregation of news from around the world about the environment and health.

EHN has long been the source of quick, daily access to environmental news published by newspapers and other media around the world. Now, EHN will also produce its own articles. The website’s new format, designed to highlight the day’s best stories, was launched today. 


EHN is a publication of Environmental Health Sciences (EHS), which also publishes the online daily electronic newsletter Above the Fold and The Daily Climate.



As Editor in Chief, Cone will cover important environmental health issues and supervise a team of 56 researchers and editors who compile the news. She also will oversee contributions to the website by freelance reporters and scientists participating in the EHS “Science Communication Fellows Program.”



In addition, Cone said that EHN plans to work with newspapers and magazines to share its content, which will follow the same high journalistic standards as newspapers.



“Every morning I would turn to EHN to see what was happening in the world. Now EHN will be known for its own reporting, too,” Cone said. “My goal is to make EHN the main source of news related to environmental health, to tell readers everything they need to know to understand these complex issues.”


Cone, one of the most experienced environmental journalists in the world, reported for newspapers for 30 years, including the past 18 at the Los Angeles Times, where she was senior environmental writer.

Expanding mission

Cone’s appointment and the redesigned EHN is only part of a transformation underway at EHS, the Virginia-based nonprofit science and media enterprise that has published EHN daily since 2003. 


In April, Environmental Health Sciences named former Oakland Tribune environmental reporter Douglas Fischer as editor of The Daily Climate (TDC).

Like Cone, Fischer is tasked with expanding TDC’s reach beyond a daily aggregation of the world’s news and into enterprise reporting on under-covered areas within the field. A redesigned TDC featuring that reporting will launch in October.

Additionally, as of today Pete Myers, Chief Scientist and CEO of Environmental Health Sciences, takes on the role of publisher of EHN and TDC. As publisher, Myers will focus on institutional development of the organization. Cone and Fischer exercise full editorial control of their websites.

“We’re in the business of reinventing journalism for the internet age, at a time when traditional media outlets are struggling,” said Myers. “Marla and Douglas bring us leadership and journalistic integrity that help EHN and TDC chart a new path for getting important news out to a broad public.”

EHN already places headlines in front of over two million people a month using a variety of web-based distribution tools. Over 300 independent websites use EHN’s highly customizable syndication features. EHN’s audience includes journalists, scientists, regulators, politicians and the general public, who rely on it to find environmental health news from around the globe. Its archives are easily searchable, providing quick access to years of information for journalists and others.

Reinventing journalism

At the Times, Cone pioneered a beat that focused on explaining scientific information on the risks that pollutants pose to public health, wildlife and ecosystems around the world.

She decided to leave the Times in August after shrinking staffs and diminished resources made her question whether newspapers could still serve their readers well.

Nonprofit foundations are becoming a new, valuable source of funding for journalistic ventures. What ProPublica does for investigative reporting, EHN now will do for environmental health reporting, Cone said. “The corporations that own most of the media are now making it nearly impossible for newspapers to inform the public well, especially for specialized journalism like environmental reporting.

 “The good news,” Cone added, “is that foundation-funded journalism is filling the void. This isn’t advocacy journalism, it’s journalism in its independent, classic form. EHN will give me the freedom to write enterprise as well as daily pieces with complexity and depth."

Environmental Health Sciences is funded by a variety of foundations, all listed on the website.

EHN and TDC contain no advertising, and daily e-letters and website access are free. They will not be reliant on profits or subscriptions to grow, and Myers sees strong potential for their staffs to expand and their journalistic content to reach more readers.
 

More information: About EHN