FEMA's Faux News Conference
Agency Employees Sat In For Reporters At Press Conference On Wildfires
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Phony FEMA Briefing
Reporters couldn't make it to a FEMA briefing on wildfires held on 15 minutes' notice. So the agency had it's staff ask the questions. Jeff Greenfield reports on the fallout.
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(CBS)
The agency - much maligned for its sluggish response to Hurricane Katrina over two years ago - arranged to have FEMA employees play the part of independent reporters Tuesday and ask questions of Vice Adm. Harvey E. Johnson, the agency's deputy director.
The questions were predictably soft and gratuitous.
One question, for example, posed by the deputy director for public affairs, queried “what it means to have an emergency declaration as opposed to a major disaster declaration,” a question only a bureaucrat could love, reports CBS News senior political correspondent Jeff Greenfield.
“I'm very happy with FEMA's response,” Johnson said in reply to another query.
White House press secretary Dana Perino said it was not appropriate that the questions were posed by agency staffers instead of reporters. FEMA was responsible for the “error in judgment,” she said, adding that the White House did not know about it beforehand and did not condone it.
“FEMA has issued an apology, saying that they had an error in judgment when they were attempting to get out a lot of information to reporters, who were asking for answers to a variety of questions in regard to the wildfires in California,” Perino said. “It's not something I would have condoned. And they - I'm sure - will not do it again.”
She said the agency was just trying to provide information to the public, through the press, because there were so many questions.
“I don't think that there was any mal-intent,” Perino said “It was just a bad way to handle it, and they know that.”
FEMA gave real reporters only 15 minutes notice about Tuesday's news conference. But because there was so little advance notice, the agency made available an 800 number so reporters could call in. And many did, although it was a listen-only arrangement.
On Tuesday, FEMA employees had played the part of reporters. 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.”
Officials at the Homeland Security Department, which includes FEMA, expressed their concern.
“This is simply inexcusable and offensive to the secretary that such a mistake could be made,” Homeland Security spokeswoman Laura Keehner said Friday, referring to DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff. “Stunts such as this will not be tolerated or repeated.”
Keehner said senior leadership is considering whether a punishment is necessary.
© MMVII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.



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See all 134 Comments"Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter." - Jefferson, Thomas 3rd President
%u201CThat propaganda is good which leads to success, and that is bad which fails to achieve the desired result. It is not propaganda%u2019s task to be intelligent, its task is to lead to success.%u201D- Joseph Goebbels, Nazi Propaganda Minister
Posted by SHURCH4TRUTH at 01:48 PM : Oct 26, 2007
Only on your part. The republicans aren''t the ones afraid to go on debates with lib moderators (ala Chris Matthews, George Stephanopolis, etc.).....but the DEMS won''t debate on Fox.
Keep searching.....you''re not THERE yet!
Keep searching.....you''''re not THERE yet!
Posted by Signof4
Your stupid.
You are where no one but the *** sheep feed.
Fox people are total losers.
Pathetic shoeless myopic azzkissin'' backscratchers.
Good point!! And the only reason you loons hate Fox News is because you don''t like anyone to hear anything other than your blame America first, ignore any good news (no coverage of Iraq this month where great improvements have been registered again or of the medal of honor given to an Afghan-based NAVY SEAL), pro-democrat, hate-bush worldview. Fox News is no more right than CNN or NBC or CBS are left (and in fact less so if you''re actuall intelligent enough to assess it). And the point above is valid even if you looney lefties don''t like it. The GOP has debated in front of Chris Matthews (Jimmy Carter''s speechwriter) and a liberal editorialist (not even a journalist); the Dems won''t even debate with the news people at Fox (Chris Wallace, Brit Hume, etc), much less put themselves in front of right-wing "Chris Matthews" such as Sean Hannity and John Gibson.
Rehearsal maybe? Have a little press conference to keep the public calm...
Sure helps eliminate the questions you don''t want to answer...
but the DEMS wont debate on Fox.
Why should we! We are not Fascists is are the FOX Infotainment Channel. Nor are Dems braindead enough to listen to all the lies that eminate from the only station in the USA to duplicate the Nazi German propoganda machine in the late 1930s. The FOX Infotainment Channel is for losers, people that can not even be honest with themselves about the real world around their self-centered pathetic lives.
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Posted by l8c6 at 03:29 PM : Oct 26, 2007
And who do you consider a "statesman" ? oh sarcasm, I get it!
Just when I think this administration has hit bottom, they surprise me again!
Having Bu$h as a leader is like having the flu while fighting morning sickness, while undergoing chemotherapy....
True, then FEMA will hold a press conference to say they have applied a new band-aid!
Noooooo, an error in judgement. Not FEMA. But you have to give them credit for admitting it, huh?
Sure is quiet here...
Posted by yankeerebel7
Joker, right wing fascists are about totalitarianism, not a market of ideas. Compromise and negotiation are considered weak amongst the sociopathic right wing absolutes.
"Wow! How insulting is that? Sieg Heil Bush!!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Posted by MCVet at 05:33 PM : Oct 26, 2007"
MCVet Shut the fvck up with the Nazi ***. You don''t like it, leave the country. You just troll that phrase all over the boards hoping to get noticed, or to relive your glory days in WWII. Miss your old buddies, huh? Seig this you worn-out excuse for ***.
"Wow! How insulting is that? Sieg Heil Bush!!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Posted by MCVet at 05:33 PM : Oct 26, 2007"
MCVet Shut the fvck up with the Nazi ***. You don''t like it, leave the country. You just troll that phrase all over the boards hoping to get noticed, or to relive your glory days in WWII. Miss your old buddies, huh? Seig this you worn-out excuse for ***.
"Wow! How insulting is that? Sieg Heil Bush!!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Posted by MCVet at 05:33 PM : Oct 26, 2007"
MCVet Shut the fvck up with the Nazi ***. You don''t like it, leave the country. You just troll that phrase all over the boards hoping to get noticed, or to relive your glory days in WWII. Miss your old buddies, huh? Seig this you worn-out excuse for ***.
"Wow! How insulting is that? Sieg Heil Bush!!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Posted by MCVet at 05:33 PM : Oct 26, 2007"
MCVet Shut the fvck up with the Nazi ***. You don''t like it, leave the country. You just troll that phrase all over the boards hoping to get noticed, or to relive your glory days in WWII. Miss your old buddies, huh? Seig this you worn-out excuse for ***.
Real reporters? No-AP., UP, Reuters are ''phoney reporters.'' Check the drift at www.
conservativemusiconline.com
Press Corps: (gushing...applause...signed cocktail napkins)
Who needs what some call ''real'' reporters?
www.conservativemusiconline.com
" Get your sun screen, grab your shades.
Cats on tin roofs must evade
The heat that in my estimation''s new
And Al Gore''s blamin'' me and you.
Broken clock right twice a day.
Hot or cold we''re gonna pay
cause if its hot then he''s a sage,
and if its cold its ''climate change.''....
--hear ot @ www.
conservativemusiconline.com
Did you read the article or are you just stupid?
How could every ''real'' reporter write the same stories? I wonder. I''ll take fake reporters, fake Nobel Lauriets, thus my point about Gore and the press. Like it or not, and I''ll refrain from calling you stupid. My song at conservativemusiconline.com makes the point that a gushing press is no press at all. Bash away.
www.conservativemusiconline.com
" Get your sun screen, grab your shades.
Cats on tin roofs must evade
The heat that in my estimation''''s new
And Al Gore''''s blamin'''' me and you.
Broken clock right twice a day.
Hot or cold we''''re gonna pay
cause if its hot then he''''s a sage,
and if its cold its ''''climate change.''''....
--hear ot @ www.
conservativemusiconline.com
I think both the White House AND FEMA are sooooo busted! If there even are real reporters in America, they should be all over this one!
This fiasco speaks volumes about the current administration...
conservativemusiconline.com
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