FEMA Staffers Posed As Reporters at Their Own Press Conference

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On Tuesday, while "wildfires raged" in California, Vice Adm. Harvey E. Johnson, the deputy administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), held a press conference at FEMA's Southwest D.C. offices that was "carried live on Fox News, MSNBC and other outlets." In the presser, Johnson said he was "very happy with FEMA's response" while praising "the good messaging" of federal and local government responders.

But if the questions lobbed at Johnson seemed a bit like softballs, that's because they were asked by FEMA employees posing as journalists. The Washington Post's Al Kamen reports:

We're told the questions were asked by Cindy Taylor, FEMA's deputy director of external affairs, and by "Mike" Widomski, the deputy director of public affairs. Director of External Affairs John "Pat" Philbin asked a question, and another came, we understand, from someone who sounds like press aide Ali Kirin.

Watch a segment of Fox News' coverage of the presser, which never mentions the FEMA stage handling to your right.

Though FEMA told Kamen that "the staff did not make up the questions," the press briefing was filled with softball questions and opportunities for Johnson to praise the FEMA's response to the disaster, contrasting it with the agency's performance during Hurricane Katrina. Kamen writes:

omething didn't seem right. The reporters were lobbing too many softballs. No one asked about trailers with formaldehyde for those made homeless by the fires. And the media seemed to be giving Johnson all day to wax on and on about FEMA's greatness.

Considering FEMA gave reporters "only 15 minutes' notice of the briefing," it gives off the perception that they didn't want reporters to show up and ask questions that would disrupt the agency's propaganda performance.

Matt Corley is a Research Associate for The Progress Report and ThinkProgress.org at the Center for American Progress.

http://alternet.org/module/printversion/66255/?type=blog

[JODO 2]

Seems like FEMA is always doing something either bizarre or just plain silly. Edited October 26, 2007 by JODO

[almaty 19]

FEMA=doublespeak.............................they used an old trick of Putin

[no name 1]

Yeah, I saw that. What jerks.

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FEMA uses fake reporters in wildfire briefing

Oct. 26: FEMA apologizes for having staff workers pretend to be reporters at a news briefing on the Southern California wildfires. NBC's Jeannie Ohm has the story.

Updated: 10:23 a.m. PT Oct 26, 2007

WASHINGTON - One way to get decent coverage in this rough-and-tumble city is to arrange to have your own employees interrogate you at your news conference.

That would seem to be the strategy of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, much maligned for its sluggish response to Hurricane Katrina over two years ago.

FEMA scheduled an early afternoon news briefing on only 15 minutes notice to reporters here Tuesday to talk about its handling of assistance to victims of wildfires that were ravaging much of Southern California.

But because there was so little advance notice for the event held by Vice Adm. Harvey E. Johnson, the deputy FEMA administrator, the agency made available an 800 number so reporters could call in. And many did, although it was a listen-only arrangement.

At the news conference itself, some FEMA employees played the role of reporter, asking questions of Johnson - queries described as soft and gratuitous.

"I'm very happy with FEMA's response," Johnson said in reply to one query from a person who was an agency employee, not an independent journalist.

Asked about this, Mike Widomski, FEMA's deputy director of public affairs, said, "We had been getting mobbed with phone calls from reporters, and this was thrown together at the last minute."

Johnson issued a statement Friday saying that FEMA's goal was "to get information out as soon as possible, and in trying to do so we made an error in judgment."

"Our intent was to provide useful information and be responsive to the many questions we have received," he said. "We can and must do better."

The story was first reported in Friday's editions of The Washington Post.

Edited October 26, 2007 by devilette

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[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

Haha taking a page from the old James Guckert con...