The EPA's media policies have produced mixed results for government openness recently, as reported by InvestigateWest. After holding press conferences where reporters were ordered not to disclose the identities of officials, a recent press conference call on the Gulf oil spill thankfully trashed that gag rule.

According to InvestigateWest's Robert McClure, "Public officials who make statements to the public need to be held accountable for what they say, which can't happen when they journalists don't even know their names..."