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As journalists, we can certainly empathize with federal scientists working for the Canadian Ice Service. It’s no fun getting scooped on a big story you’ve been working on for a long time, especially if it falls within the purview of one of your marquee beats.

As Margaret Munro reported in these pages earlier this week, that’s exactly what happened to those scientists, whose job it is to parse data from the aircraft, satellites and ships that keep a close eye on ice conditions and navigation hazards in the country’s rapidly melting North. When in 2012 Arctic ice hit the lowest level ever recorded, they had a great idea: why not take all this research generated at taxpayers’ expense and actually share it with them via a “strictly factual” technical briefing for the media? As one document obtained by Munro read: “What goes on in the Arctic has implications for all Canadians.”

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Alas, while journalists compete with each other to break news, Canadian scientists face a much more powerful opponent to the timely dissemination of their hard work: their own bosses.