
(Beth Clifton collage)
Our commitment to environmental journalism continues

Beth & Merritt Clifton
(Beth Clifton collage)
We resign!

(Beth Clifton collage)
Maoist behavior

Charging rhino.
(Beth Clifton photo)
Journalism is not for the thin-skinned

Merritt Clifton & feline news source, 1984.
Background is in order
Thirty years and six months ago, give or take a few days, Society of Environmental Journalists founder Jim Detjen called me, described his concept for starting the organization, asked me to join, and asked me for a list of other journalists working for small, specialized, and/or rural media who might be prospects for membership.
Jim emphasized that he hoped to attract as diverse a membership as possible, not just people from mainstream mass audience daily newspapers & electronic media, and from mainstream academia, where he already had extensive contacts.

Connie & Jim Detjen.
Long list of names

(Beth Clifton collage)
The listserv

Beth & Merritt Clifton
Tightened membership rules excluded diversity

Michael Rivlin
Michael Rivlin

Carroll Cox of EnviroWatch
Carroll Cox

(Beth Clifton, Miami Beach police 1983)
Now a word about Beth

ANIMALS 24-7 media editor Beth Clifton as Miami Beach mounted police officer in 1985.
Police officer, animal control officer

On the set of “The Birds,” the 1962 Alfred Hitchcock production often identified as the prototypical eco-disaster film. From left to right: Veronica Cartwright, unknown boy, ANIMALS 24-7 editor Merritt Clifton, Tippi Hedren, unknown girl, Suzanne Pleshette, unknown boy.
And a word about me

Temple Grandin & people who should be listening.
(Beth Clifton collage)
Social skills & behaviors

(Beth Clifton collage)
Animals in China
Samisdat

In Quebec I first witnessed & reported about a fatal dog attack.
Quebec

Shortstop S. Smith hit .301 for Montreal & St. Jean in 1899-1900.
Baseball

Africa Network for Animal Welfare founder Josphat Ngonyo & Merritt Clifton. (Beth Clifton photo)
Newspaper

Beth & Merritt Clifton
ANIMALS 24-7
From: meera <meerasub@gmail.com>Subject: SEJ-TalkDate: August 31, 2020 at 1:10:06 PM PDTTo: animals24.7@frontier.comCc: Meaghan Parker <mparker@sej.org>, “Schleifstein, Mark” <Mschleifstein@theadvocate.com>, Michael Kodas <michaelkodas@me.com>Dear Merritt and Beth,Hello, how are you? Executive Director Meaghan Parker and I are writing in response to both a formal complaint and observed posts on SEJ-Talk under the threads “NAHJ Urges End to ‘Minorities’ Label” and “Racism, blah, blah, blah.” Your statements therein are a clear violation of the Membership Agreement and Policies, which state that “Differences of opinion should not drift into rudeness, condescension and disrespect. Avoid creating or contributing to flame wars.” At times, your statements have veered into racially and ethnically charged statements that border on harassment.You have been a long-standing members of SEJ, and we value your contributions, but this behavior is unacceptable. You must abide by Membership Agreement and Policies, and the Anti-Harassment Policy in order to engage with the SEJ community.We are suspending your access to SEJ listservs for the next three months, to be effective immediately, and reinstated November 30. We look forward to your return to the shared resource of SEJ-Talk at that point to join in the conversation about the practice of environmental journalism and how to cover stories on the beat.You have the right to appeal this decision to the full Executive Committee.Sincerely,~Meera Subramaniancc: Meaghan Parker, Mark Schleifstein, Michael Kodas~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Meera Subramanian
Journalist | Author | Society of Environmental Journalists Board Presidentwww.meerasub.org | @meeratweets | +1.541.337.5392
A River Runs Again: India’s Natural World in Crisis, from the Barren Cliffs of Rajasthan to the Farmlands of Karnataka

(Beth Clifton collage)
The posts in question, are below (as best we can determine. We did not post anything entitled “NAHJ Urges End to ‘Minorities’ Label”.)

Beth & Merritt Clifton
The time has come for Beth & me to shake the shit associated with SEJ off of our feet and move on, anticipating that if our health permits, we will continue to be practicing environmental journalism long after SEJ has imploded.

Merritt on the job.
(Beth Clifton photo)
[SEJ-TALK:] Racism, blah blah blah
Among the most universal traits of young whippersnappers, journalists or otherwise, is an idealistic tendency to become excessively enamored of abstract theories espoused originally by academics, while simultaneously undervaluing the experience of elders.
A few of us here are old enough to remember that racial identity was frequently capitalized back in the segregation era, and much more recently abroad, in the apartheid era, thereby making racial identity seemingly as important as personal identity.
Capitalizing racial identity was an inherently racist practice then, was abolished by the same generation of journalists whose work helped to end segregation here & apartheid there, & returning to it is an inherently racist practice now, whether or not the young whippersnappers out there have the savvy to understand why.

(Beth Clifton collage)
Our job is to report, not pre-judge

(Beth Clifton collage)
Mob bosses

Academic theory had it, circa 100 years ago, that the Benson Bubbler would stop the Spanish influenza and popularize Prohibition.
Quite a few of the list participants here who are most zealous about purging journalism of this & that which they perceive as being part of an “-ism” might do well to consider to what extent their own attitudes are part of yet another common “-ism,” agism, which manifests itself most often in young whippersnappers assuming that us old farts don’t know what we are talking about.
Incidentally, some of us old farts have also been reporting practically daily about subjects and sources of other ethnicities, nationalities, etc. for decades, frequently exchanging information with fellow journalists of just about every other ethnicity, nationality, linguistic group, etc., while some of the young whippersnappers have been more-or-less in an academic bubble, as students, interns, and freelances in university towns, which contributes to the naivete inherent in many of their favorite theoretical constructs.
Merritt & Beth

Carroll Cox
Culture & structure of news organizations

Our dog Bo on the job.
(Beth Clifton collage)
Journalism 1-A
This is really just Journalism 1-A, but Beth & I continually run into situations where reporters for major mainstream media presume that if they have gotten the perspective of one person with a dog, for instance, they have the perspective of the whole community on animals.

Beth & Merritt Clifton, with African friend.
How people describe themselves
<as journalists we should listen to how people describe themselves. That’s part of our doing a good job.>
Listen, yes, but call people what they want to be called?
That all depends on the context. There are a lot of white supremacists out there who would prefer to be described as patriots. Gangsters would like to be called “men of honor.” Terrorists want to be called “freedom fighters.” Dictators prefer to be described as presidents.

Merritt & Beth Clifton
Ain’t going to happen on our beat.
We call people by the term that most accurately describes who they are, whether they like it or not.
That’s what’s doing a good job.
Merritt & Beth
While I don’t fully comprehend the issues with the Society of Environmental Journalists, I do appreciate the dedicated professional history and background of the editors of Animals 24-7, Merritt and Beth. For many years before the launch of Animals 24-7, I read Merritt’s print-newspaper publication. Animal People, from which I learned so much.
In my early days in the Animal Rights movement, in the 1980s, I read Merritt’s fascinating biographical essay published in Between the Species: A Journal of Ethics where I first published my essay about “the little chicken who started it all, – Viva,the Chicken Hen.”
“Us guys” have all been around the block more than once and are still here fighting the good fight, win or lose, for animals and animal liberation. I take a dim-to-the-point-of-lightless view of human nature and progress generally, but being active for animals, and knowing others with unshakable dedication like Beth and Merritt, sustain what theologian Paul Tillich called the Courage to Be In Spite of Non-Being and what I call Keeping Faith versus having faith.
Karen Davis, PhD, President, United Poultry Concerns. http://www.upc-online.org
Thank you to you both for your much-needed journalism in an era when journalism seems to be disappearing into promoting corruption and supporting whoever can buy the news narratives they want people to believe. You are a precious resource!
A fascinating article. Thanking you and sharing to socials, with appreciation!
It isn’t apparent what specifically the problem was with SEJ, and I certainly haven’t read all you’ve written over your career, but in the decades of reading your publications I’ve found you to be considerate and respectful, even when responding to comments that many would consider insulting.
In this day and age, when people are taking offense from even the use of a period at the end of a sentence (as was reported on National Public Radio this weekend), I appreciate writing that is accurate and candid. You needn’t apologize for it, nor should you need to defend it.