Reporting on a congressional field hearing of the U.S. House Resources Committee held September 18 in Greeley, The Gazette of Colorado Springs and The Greeley Tribune each omitted key information concerning the endangered Preble's meadow jumping mouse. “Initiated” by U.S. Rep. Marilyn Musgrave (R-Fort Morgan), the hearing featured testimony on the mouse's continued status as a distinct subspecies -- a determination that could affect its continued protection under the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA). Though The Gazette and the Tribune both reported on the “debate” or “dispute” over the mouse's taxonomy, neither paper informed readers that a panel of independent scientists commissioned by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) already has concluded the mouse should retain its classification as a distinct subspecies.

As Colorado Media Matters has noted, biologist and former Denver Museum of Nature & Science curator Rob Roy Ramey published a paper in 2005 suggesting, in the Rocky Mountain News' words, that “the Colorado-dwelling Preble's mouse is nearly identical to other meadow jumping mice and doesn't deserve the special protections it enjoys as a 'threatened' subspecies under the Endangered Species Act.” Yet as a July 25 Denver Post article noted, Dr. Tim King, a biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey in West Virginia subsequently published a separate study refuting Ramey's findings.

In response to the conflicting conclusions of Ramey and King, the USFWS commissioned the Oregon-based Sustainable Ecosystems Institute (SEI) to assess the two studies. According to the USFWS, SEI was to “organize an independent scientific review panel to analyze, assess, and weight the reasons why the data, findings, and conclusions of King et al. differ from the data, findings, and conclusions of Ramey et al.” In a July 20 letter conveying its findings, SEI stated: “In the case of the Preble's Meadow Jumping Mouse ... the panel unanimously conclude that the weight of evidence currently clearly supports retention of the subspecies as a valid taxon.”

However, in a September 19 article by reporter Rebecca Boyle about Musgrave's field hearing, the Tribune made no mention of SEI's findings, reporting only on the “debate” over the Preble's status:

The debate goes a step further, with opponents saying some recent genetic research shows the Preble's mouse is not even a different species, so it should not be protected by the Endangered Species Act. The other side has its own genetic research, which they say proves the mouse is a distinct subspecies.

[...]

Patrick Crank, Wyoming's attorney general, compared the mouse to the mythical Wyoming jackalope.

“They both do not exist,” he said. "(The Preble's mouse) exists only in the minds of some folks in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and some environmental groups."

The mouse was declared a threatened species in Colorado and Wyoming in 1998. In the last 18 months, since opponents filed a petition to take the mouse off the Endangered Species List, two separate studies about the genetics of jumping mice reached different conclusions about whether the Preble's mouse should be considered a subspecies.

The wildlife service will decide soon whether to keep the mouse in its current genetic classification. Nothing could be decided at Monday's hearing.

Moreover, the Tribune previously reported SEI's conclusions in a July 25 story by Joanna Larez :

Scientists hired to review contradictory evidence for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service concluded the Preble's meadow jumping mouse is a unique subspecies, limited to parts of Colorado and Wyoming.

The study by the Portland, Ore.-based Sustainable Ecosystems Institute, obtained Sunday by The Associated Press, would help justify keeping the 3-inch mouse protected under the Endangered Species Act.

Similarly, on September 19, The Gazette printed a shortened version of a September 18 AP story. The version published by The Gazette described a “fierce dispute ... about whether the Preble's mouse is a distinct creature” but omitted the SEI's conclusion that the mouse should continue to be classified as distinct.

From The Gazette's September 19 version of the September 18 AP report:

A fierce dispute arose this year about whether the Preble's mouse is a distinct creature with a dwindling population or is the same as a more common species that does not need protection.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is considering whether the 3-inch mouse -- which can jump 18 inches high -- should stay on the endangered species list.

However, a longer version of the AP report contained the following information, which The Gazette omitted:

A fierce dispute arose earlier this year about whether the Preble's mouse is a distinct creature with a dwindling population or is the same as a more common species that does not need protection. A study by Colorado biologist Rob Ramey concluded the mouse is indistinguishable from other, similar mice, prompting former Interior Secretary Gale Norton to propose lifting its federal protections.

Ramey's research is supported by some scientists and rejected by others, including U.S. Geological Survey researcher Tim King. A scientific panel assembled by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to review the differing reports said the mouse is a separate subspecies.

In contrast to coverage by The Gazette and the Tribune, a September 19 Rocky Mountain News article reported:

U.S. Geological Survey geneticist Tim King determined this year that the mouse is a distinct subspecies that deserves protection. In July, an independent science panel convened by Fish and Wildlife agreed with King that the mouse is unique.