"Canada's generally positive foreign reputation as a progressive, scientific nation masks some startlingly poor behaviour," says an editorial in the British journal Nature this week, which takes issue with the way this country's federal government tightly controls media access to its scientists.
"The way forward is clear: It is time for the Canadian government to set its scientists free."
The editorial says the Harper government's policy directives and emails, which have been obtained by Postmedia News and other Canadian media outlets, "reveal a confused and Byzantine approach to the press, prioritizing message control and showing little understanding of the importance of the free flow of scientific knowledge."
It notes the government's position — "to stick with its restrictive course and ride out all objections" — is coming under increasing pressure as a result of the new scientific integrity policies taking shape in the United States.
"The clarity of the U.S. guidelines undercuts the Canadian government's assertion that its own media policies are adequate and have simply been misunderstood," the editorial says.
"If the Harper government truly embraces public access to publicly-funded scientific expertise, then it should do what the Canadian Science Writers' Association and several other organizations have called for in a letter sent to the prime minister on (Feb. 16): 'Implement a policy of timely and transparent communication' like those used by NOAA (the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) and the NSF (U.S. National Science Foundation)."
Under their new guidelines, NOAA and NSF scientists and staff are free to speak to journalists without first seeking the approval of a public affairs officer. The policies state that researchers are free to express their personal views as long as they make clear that they are not speaking on behalf of the agency. And scientists also have a right to review agency publications and news releases that claim to represent their expert opinions.
"Such policies may not be implemented successfully in all cases, but they show that attitudes have evolved encouragingly since 2006, when charges that then-president George W. Bush's administration had silenced U.S. government researchers made front-page news," the editorial says.
"Over the same period, Canada has moved in the opposite direction," it says.
"Since Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservative party won power in 2006, there has been a gradual tightening of media protocols for federal scientists and other government workers. Researchers who once would have felt comfortable responding freely and promptly to journalists are now required to direct inquiries to a media-relations office, which demands written questions in advance, and might not permit scientists to speak."
Postmedia News has documented several instances in which government researchers have been prevented from speaking to journalists about their studies. One instance involved an Environment Canada researcher who was not allowed to discuss a report he co-authored on last year's unprecedented Arctic ozone hole. In another instance, a federal geologist was prevented from discussing a prehistoric flood that occurred 13,000 years ago.
Original Article
Source: vancouver sun
Author: Margaret Munro
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