Don't Open that Email! Journalism and Click-Tracking

The US Government's Environmental Protection Agency is fighting an Associated Press journalist, and its getting ugly.

One of the EPA's attacks on the journalist is his email opening history:

"The Environmental Protection Agency is all over Michael Biesecker, a reporter for the Associated Press. His reading habits, for instance. 'We are able to see who opens our emails,' says an EPA official, referring to press-release blasts sent out by the agency. 'Michael very rarely opens a positive story about [EPA Administrator] Scott Pruitt. He only opens stories where he tries to create problems.'"

A good reminder for journalists that we're being tracked. Each time we click a press release to read more, a good example being emails from Ontario's Special Investigations Unit, we're giving press handlers plenty of information.

It's good practice, and one that I use, to not click in emails and instead navigate directly to press releases and backgrounders in our web browsers.