FEMA Meets the Press, Which Happens to Be . . . FEMA (fake reporters at news conference)

Source: Washington Post

By Al Kamen
Friday, October 26, 2007; Page A19

FEMA has truly learned the lessons of Katrina. Even its handling of the media has improved dramatically. For example, as the California wildfires raged Tuesday, Vice Adm. Harvey E. Johnson, the deputy administrator, had a 1 p.m. news briefing.

Reporters were given only 15 minutes' notice of the briefing, making it unlikely many could show up at FEMA's Southwest D.C. offices. They were given an 800 number to call in, though it was a "listen only" line, the notice said -- no questions. Parts of the briefing were carried live on Fox News, MSNBC and other outlets.

... He was apparently quite familiar with the reporters -- in one case, he appears to say "Mike" and points to a reporter -- and was asked an oddly in-house question about "what it means to have an emergency declaration as opposed to a major disaster declaration" signed by the president. He once again explained smoothly.

... Very smooth, very professional. But something 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.

Of course, that could be because the questions were asked by FEMA staffers playing reporters. 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.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/25/AR2007102502488.html

:grr:

crawling out of their vipers nest for a plastic turykey of a fucking fake presser, though.

hmmm... they're getting hundreds of questions flooding in they say.

they cherry pick the obvious easy ones (if that is even true) and well prepare answers while completely avoiding any questions about real responsibility. They say this is just fine and nothing is wrong with it. They don't allow enough time for real reporters to get to the event.

I'd say these people are well out of control.

Strike' from Big Dick's bunker. 'Tis called, DSP

These clowns are becoming so predictable that one can read their minds.

You have counterexamples?

They lost their jobs when BushCo took over, replaced by fucking Brownie-esque idiots.

Never in my whole life could I imagine such utter bullshit happening here.

I'll bet they all wore brown shirts with an arm band stating their loyalty to the head chimp.

I'd like to request some better news.

I'm thinking of that Russian ship and the port of Sebastopol. (A very interesting story to say the least! Book and movie)

village was erected to impress him.

but didn't know its origins. This is very hepful! :hi:

having not ever done so before.

So (General/Admiral?) Potemkin sent out intructions to round up the locals BY FORCE to force them to build beautiful fake facades along the entire route of the "visit", so the Tzar and his entourage would think all was right with the country he ruled...

Not a "rumour" at all - but a historical FACT.

Hence the term "Potemkin Village"...

Potemkin was a regional minister assigned by Catherine the Great to Crimea and he built these fake villages to impress HER

(and criminal as Cheney is) - he's a child for thinking he can pull it off. Bush - arrested development at the 13 year old level of blowing up frogs. Meanness and destruction, betrayal and revenge rules in him.

Rove is a child - one of the nasty manipulative ones. Rice is a child - queen of liars.

Many children joined the children and played their child games of lording it over our children, young kids, us, our parents, and by history - our parents parents and so on by the way they rolled back the clock on progress ..... children who go through a smart axx stage and never mature into law abiding citizens and parents - always trying to get something because they can combined with having it all and making others hurt.

These puerile attempts at deception would be fine in Monty Python or Our Gang Comedies. But they clearly feel they are so massively above the American people that they can't even be bothered to discuss a national disaster. Every time we or the press has a chuckle at their shenanigans, they are empowered to continue lying and betraying us. They are not held to account for any of their war crimes or deriliction of duties. The deepest tragedy for me is this: Our elected representatives aren't doing anything about their most BRUTAL CRIMES LIKE IRAQ - let alone these types of silliness.

It just get more pathetic and hopeless every day.

We have our own Dem leader-children who love war and war profits for big contributors - who lover thier behind the door deals. Many Dem leaders are betraying us. Nader was right. As hard as that is to say.

Others have told me that some Dems at the top ARE Republicans. We've been duped and couped. We are so darn dumb. We take it and take it - give them money, accept their lies.

We are a corporate state. The social experiment is over I am afraid. It is not possible to achieve what was achievable in the past, those great movements that made humanity valuable. It has been killed by one thing...TELEVISION.

:hi: fear not as the wheels are turning and the nightmare will end in 451 days. :toast: and I see the "plan of Piliosi" in our congress. as bush today is finally realizing how fucked he and his party really are. :toast: Fema just put California in the same category as Louisiana and Mississippi. :toast:

it is not all bad. for the moment, we for the most part are o.k. ?

It's like that Twilight Zone episode "It's a Good Life" where a little six-year-old kid has the power to destroy anyone who doesn't agree with him. He has isolated the community he lives in by making everything else go away- and everyone has to cater & play up to him or suffer the consequences.

The more I write about it, the clearer the parallels become . . .

complete. Time to round up the dissidents!

They're working on that. They have cut off our escape routes out of the country, last I heard (it's called the no-fly list).

have been issued "stay aways". If they set foot on Capital Hill or on designated streets around the the Hill, they will be arrested.

they from central casting, or were the vetted by bush's advance team?

- you can rest assured they are publicans. And probably feel blessed that he touched them!

That is all.

They never tell the truth, even by mistake.

lol

There is a special place in hell... it is the size and shape of a trailer, and it is sinking...

It's waiting for this guy:



http://steponnopets.com/peo">President Evil Online has risen from the grave!

a press release ... keep filling that catapult.

:puke:

the old Soviets are probably amazed out how well this administration handles the news.

I work in PR for a government agency, and this is absolutely stupid! We would never try, or even conosider trying some bonehead move like that. Who are these media people? Have they ever worked for a newspaper? Just when I think we make mistakes here in our office, I read something like this.

won't know or care.

Expect the memo instructing your own office to do the same from now on, any day now.

Welcome to DU! :)

I was in the PR game for many years, too.

I've never even HEARD of anyone pulling this stunt.

It really is unparalleled. These people really are
idiotic thugs who have lost all sense of reason.

Do they realize how completely idiotic they appear to, well...EVERYONE???

seem staged--it really doesn't matter much since most of the press corps and media outlets seem to be on the payroll also.

Chimpy McFlightsuit's comment during a fake press conference leading up to the Iraq war. "Real" journalists allowed themselves to be props. Watch for yourself. It comes in around 3:00.

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/btw/watch.html

It's from Bill Moyers' show, "Buying the War."

Here are a few more examples of bushco propaganda, courtesy of the GAO.

http://searching.gao.gov/query.html?qt=video+news+VNR&rf=4&amo=0&ayr=0&bmo=0&byr=0&col=audprod&col=lglview&charset=iso-8859-1

... oh ... wait ... :+

when have they ever told the truth, even when they could have without harm. We are definitely in some sort of weird government where a portion of us have forgotten what it really means to be free and have joined with the bush cabal in subjugating the rest of us. These people have been committing sedition against the constitution for a long time and it continues. Is there no way to stop this lying group of people and return to a land of the free? Sure seems not likely any time soon. Bummer.

"Tea Parties" while playing handball. The 2 friends take it easy on each other so they can play longer. Same thing here, and as far as having prop victims of the fires they had 2 at Katrina when the village idiot arrived. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. These 2 black girls ran up to Bush and was hugging him and he was hugging them. And the one thing that stood out to me is that these girls where well dressed and clean. In the middle of a devestated town with mud everywhere and they somehow had clean clothes and showers. I thought they must be Condi's neices.

Now this shit!
WHERE IS OUR PARTY LEADERSHIP IN CONGRESS!?! Get off your asses and DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS!!!

found podcast here:
http://www.podcastdirectory.com/podshows/1994921

It sounds like it's cut off at the end.
Just disgusting that they fraudulently framed this as a press conference.


But then, they've joined Bush in also framing the whole situation as a bashing of Blanco and excusing of their Katrina nonresponse as well. Note Johnson's quote from, it looks like, before the fake presser:

The new agency mantra – oft repeated by FEMA officials in recent days – appears to be “forward leaning,” a term that implies the agency is trying to think far ahead of each disaster.

“This is a FEMA and a federal government that's leaning forward, not waiting to react,” FEMA Deputy Administrator Harvey Johnson told reporters earlier this week. “If you take a look at Katrina ... there wasn't good, smooth communication between the governor and the administrator of FEMA, the governor and the president.”

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20071024-1640-cnsfema.html

It's tragic that they've taken a once well-functioning agency of government and turned it into a propaganda tool for themselves.

Lets all tell everyone we ever met about this. They will NOT believe it until they read it for themselves. Then look at their faces, and see all what we've known and felt these last years.

Tell them we welcome them to the new Amerika. Ask them if they'd like to go back to sleep now. Most would like to, but won't be able to.

It's a DAYMARE.

and go back to what they were doing.

The lies upon lies upon lies have inured people to the outrage they once felt at having government lie to them. And that is a daymare, indeed.

If you take a look at Katrina ... there wasn't good, smooth communication between the governor and the administrator of FEMA, the governor and the president.”

The governor of Louisiana tried repeatedly to contact the WHite Hosue and was repeatedly brushed off and shunted to low-level functionaries. That lack of communication was all on the side of the Bush White House--and now they are using it as a way of bashing the Governor, as if it were somehow her fault that no one would take her calls.

to excuse what FEMA and the administration actually did and did not do during Katrina and to try to lay all the blame on Blanco. It's not happenstance that some of the earliest words from Bush and FEMA were directed this way. And, as you note, its a misrepresentation of what happened. In addition to brushing off her attempts at communicating, Bush also tried to pressure her into relinquishing oversight of the National Guard as a condition to receiving their assistance. He tried to turn a tragedy into a power grab.

I also wonder if it is intended to warn other governors, as a see what happens when you don't "communicate" scenario. Of course, those other governors would be ones like Sebelius, who raise questions he doesn't want raised, such as where the National Guard's equipment is. I imagine the attack dogs will be out soon in force against Boxer, since she also brought that up.

now if that isn't a glaring example of this failed admin*, I don't know what is.

Instead of working to do our jobs properly, we'll just manipulate public perception so it appears we're doing our jobs properly. Man, I'm gonna start doing this. I'll just pay people to tell my boss I've been doing a great job, you know like I was extra friendly and professional, they'll say I provided an extra high level of customer service. I'll be sure to get that raise I've been after, and best of all, no need to actually work! God bless America. *tear

:sarcasm:

The story was on page A19, huh?

Typical.

I don't watch the 24/7 Cable "news" anymore, but usually, when this type of propaganda reaches NPR's "Talk of the Nation" (like it did yesterday) it's usually because the Bush Co. propaganda is being push hard on the 24/7 Cable "news" channels.

<http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=15630315>

They just want to give the impression of doing something which is exactly what these repiglicans like to do. They are incompetent fools afraid of the very people that they are supposed to serve. If the MSM any backbone, more of it would attack FEMA for the deceiving institution that it is.

but they sure as hell don't mind spending/taking out tax dollars!

Nothing is a surprise anymore in Bushworld.

Next time they can fake one or start it themselves then rush to the rescue, then pat themselves on the back for a job well done. No one else needs to be involved.

If their pulling stuff like this already imagine the crap that will be going on next April.

The whole thing reminds me of a construction job where a contractor has done a shitty job and now wants to take the money and run. They will try to cover their tracks any way they can before they run out the door.

were asking the questions? A difference of degree, perhaps. But not a difference in kind.

:-(
Tee mainstream media is such a joke. Katie would have said something like "FEMA rawks!"
:puke:

Amazing that it's actually gaining some press attention.

Staging a "press conference" giving only 15 minutes notice? JEEZ. WHOTHEHELL thought that up? You'd think on an issue as life-or-death critical as response to a major disaster they'd make sure everybody could cover this.

The lies have become so pervasive they don't even make a serious attempt to disguise them anymore. The underlying assumption is that nothing will happen if they're caught, and indeed the consequences are few. It's been standard operating procedure, the status quo in government for the past seven years.

Damn. I want my country back.

This incident would be funny if it were not another manifestation of just how far our nation has fallen.

It really makes me mad. trust totally gone

The President is responsible.

Yeah. Riiiiiiight.

Forum Name Latest Breaking News
Topic subject US agency apologizes for news conference on fires
Topic URL http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3044462#3044462
3044462, US agency apologizes for news conference on fires
Posted by Lone_Star_Dem on Fri Oct-26-07 03:12 PM

Source: Reuters

WASHINGTON, Oct 26 (Reuters) - The U.S. government's main disaster-response agency apologized on Friday for having its employees pose as reporters in a hastily called news conference on California's wildfires that no news organizations attended.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency, still struggling to restore its image after the bungled handling of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, issued the apology after The Washington Post published details of the Tuesday briefing.

"We can and must do better, and apologize for this error in judgment," FEMA deputy administrator Harvey Johnson, who conducted the briefing, said in a statement. "Our intent was to provide useful information and be responsive to the many questions we have received."

No actual reporter attended the news conference in person, agency spokesman Aaron Walker said.

Read more: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N26366100.htm

WTF, when is ALL of America going to wake up and smell the coffee???? (In retrospect, that's a rhetorical question, so please don't answer, okay?). :cry:
k&r

whole MSM picks this up; they will look pretty suspect if they do NOT.

...for news conference on fires
http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSN26366100

Fri Oct 26, 2007 3:35pm EDT (edited to add)
Randall Mikkelsen

WASHINGTON, Oct 26 (Reuters) - The U.S. government's main disaster-response agency apologized on Friday for having its employees pose as reporters in a hastily called news conference on California's wildfires that no news organizations attended.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency, still struggling to restore its image after the bungled handling of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, issued the apology after The Washington Post published details of the Tuesday briefing.

"We can and must do better, and apologize for this error in judgment," FEMA deputy administrator Harvey Johnson, who conducted the briefing, said in a statement. "Our intent was to provide useful information and be responsive to the many questions we have received."

No actual reporter attended the news conference in person, agency spokesman Aaron Walker said.

A spokeswoman for Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, who has authority over FEMA, called the incident "inexcusable and offensive to the secretary."

continued here...
http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSN26366100

This is OUTRAGEOUS. Bloody fucking BOLLOCKS!

...it is ALL theater and staged and totally phony :wtf:

As a college student journalist, I find FEMA's actions in this "conference" to be completely reprehensible. It is completely unethical in my opinion. If it had been a serious and not a soft question, I would have personally excused it to some degree (due to the circumstances), but I can't at this time.

That's an amazing statement.

What circumstances are these that you believe justify fake government press conferences?

I've been a journalist for the past 18 years, and this is never acceptable, to put it very mildly. What FEMA did boggles my mind.

so sadly sadly funny. Okay are we at the point where we can just stop with the complete nonsense now??? Please?

John Rendon?

Hill and Knowlton?

If this happened on Tuesday, what took so long to report it?
Oh...that's right, we have to wait for the fake MSM to report a fake news conference!:eyes:

http://blogs.chron.com/beltwayconfidential/

I heard a brief mention of this on the Rachel Maddow Show, so I Googled.

pnorman

Doesn't anyone keep track of all this crap -- ?

BUSH runs a big, big stage ---



QUOTE . .

October 26, 2007
Learning-impaired FEMA starts another fire

(ap)
Heckuva job, Harvey (honk!)

The White House today "did not condone" FEMA's stunt this week where decoy non-reporters asked questions at a sham FEMA briefing in DC. Of all the agencies, you'd think FEMA would know better. Nope!

"It is not a practice that we would employ here at the White House," Press Secretary Dana Perino said. "We certainly don't condone it.

I remember on Tuesday thinking that something was seriously odd about it...

I don't believe a word that come from the bushies.

Newsjock

Even the old Sovjets dosent lie that blatant, as this Administration have been doing, and wel, pretty vel are doing, so long that they can do it...

And the media in the Old Sovjet was werry controlled by the STATE, and had a lot of propaganda in it...

And here, USA is vel, making the USSR looks like a eagle schoter in comparison.. You dosent do it easy, when you are fuzzing about, that should US have...

Poor USA, good know hat is next...

Diclotican

Sorry my bad engelish, not my native language

Unless some very senior people are fired over this, then it tells me the White House was in on it, and only rebuked it when they got "caught".

The public is probably not going to pay much attention to this story...or care.
Sadly, that's what we've become.

Getting lied to is what this country has come to accept as the norm.

is that the press has finally figured out that they can lose their jobs because they don't DO their jobs. If you are nothing more than a mouth piece for propaganda-you are superfluous and can be replaced.

Same with Congress. If you are nothing more than a rubber stamp-why do we need you. The President can write is own signing statement, uh I mean law. Who is going to stand up for you when you are dissolved.

Same with the Supreme Court. If you keep give a dictator a free pass-people stop respecting your authority. And if folks don't respect your authority-whose going to revolt when you are thrown out for a new court.

This my friends has been the REAL DANGER of the last 7years. We have gotten use to this way of thinking and of government.

:thumbsup:

country with bullshit like this.

I would expect behavior like this in some third world country with no democracy and only multinational corporations and their government henchman who rule by the threat of violence.

But I guess that's what we're about to become.