GLOBAL JOURNALIST: Chile, Hungary and covering industrial disasters

Charles Davis, associate professor, Missouri School of Journalism: Mining and resource processing cause environmental disasters and human suffering around the world. Last week, Hungarian communities were deluged by toxic sludge from an aluminum plant. Nine people have died, and the environment is contaminated with cadmium, mercury and other toxic wastes. In Chile, the rescue of 33 miners trapped underground in a collapsed mine for 69 days finally came to an end yesterday. Earlier this month in the United States, West Virginia’s Democratic governor, Joe Manchin, sued (Environmental Protection Agency) against new regulations over mountaintop removal in the Appalachians. Following this, 50 Democrats urged the president to keep fighting to protect the mountains. Here to discuss the issues are three journalists: Matt Craze, reporter for Bloomberg, Santiago, Chile; Janos Gal, correspondent for Agence France-Presse, Budapest, Hungary; and John McQuaid, independent environmental journalist, Washington, D.C. Janos, give us a quick update on where we stand in terms of the toxic sludge release and the clean-up conditions.