US agencies struggle over public relations

摘要

It is report-card season for US science agencies, and the grades are in on their media skills. The Union of Concerned Scientists, an advocacy group based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, has ranked the public-relations policies of 15 federal organizations. It gave the highest marks to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia, whose written policy allows scientists to express their personal views. NASA also fared well, earning a "B" for its policy and a "satisfactory" for its practice. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finished near the bottom of the class - its lack of an agency-wide policy earning it a "D".