In the recent California fires, FEMA invited criticism to itself by hastily calling a press conference (giving the reporters 15 minutes' notice only), then giving a call-in hotline that only allows for listening in to the press conference without allowing for questions to be asked, and then then having FEMA officials post questions to the FEMA Deputy Administrator at the press conference (without media).
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Why FEMA Fakes it With the Press
Sunday, Oct. 28, 2007 By AMANDA RIPLEY / TIME
FEMA held a press conference on Oct. 23 to respond to fake questions about the real wildfires in California. Here's how it happened: Real reporters were only notified 15 minutes in advance, so all they could reasonably do was call in to a conference line. But the line was set to "listen-only" mode, so asking questions was out of the question. Only the people there — a group consisting almost entirely of FEMA public affairs employees — could grill FEMA representatives.
None of this was disclosed by Vice Adm. Harvey E. Johnson, the deputy administrator of FEMA, who dutifully responded to the softballs from his underlings (i.e. "Are you happy with FEMA's response so far?") as if they were real.
To his credit, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff lambasted FEMA after the story broke in the Washington Post several days later. "I think it was one of the dumbest and most inappropriate things I've seen since I've been in government," Chertoff said. "I have made unambiguously clear, in Anglo-Saxon prose, that it is not to ever happen again and there will be appropriate disciplinary action taken against those people who exhibited what I regard as extraordinarily poor judgment."
But here's the irony: in a way, FEMA had responded as it had trained to respond. Since 2000, the nation has held four full-scale exercises to simulate a major terrorist attack. Each time, the "mock media" is played by fake reporters — paid PR people, to be specific — just like in the fake FEMA press conference last week.
Since 2003, Ogilvy PR, an international firm which also works for Disney and Slim-Fast, has been paid by the government to hold fake press conferences and broadcast live to a Virtual News Network (VNN), a closed-circuit satellite TV network modeled after CNN. Only people involved in the exercise can watch VNN or access its web site. The real media are only allowed to watch from afar.
Two weeks ago, for example, the feds held their last major exercise — simulating dirty bomb attacks in Portland, Phoenix and Guam. A VNN anchor played by former TV journalist Forrest Sawyer broke the "news." A real reporter from the Portland Tribune noted that he and the rest of the actual media were kept more than a football field away from the scene.
Before the simulation, I asked FEMA why they weren't using real reporters instead. I was told that the material was too sensitive, for one thing, and for another, real reporters would change the dynamic of what was intended to be a learning atmosphere.
But FEMA's decision last week to exclude real reporters from a matter of real national security — in which half a million people had been evacuated from their homes due to uncontrolled fire — would suggest that the best way to provide an atmosphere of learning would be to include real reporters before the disaster strikes. Maybe if FEMA had established good relationships with more real reporters before the wildfires, the agency would feel confident enough to allow them to ask questions during press conferences.
For now, Chertoff has ordered Russ Knocke, his own lead press secretary for DHS, to go over and "assist" at FEMA. Knocke starts his new temporary job on Oct. 29. When I asked him if this whole fiasco was yet another reminder that it might be better to include real reporters in fake disasters (and not the other way around), he said, "I do recognize your perspective that there's more that we can do to increase transparency when it comes to those kinds of exercises. That point is noted. Though right now my priority is on real-world ability — to be sure that FEMA public affairs has the professionalism that everyone expects from the Secretary on down."
Hear that? That's the sound of real-world experience, the kind you get from dealing with real-world pains-in-the-ass like me.
FEMA Meets the Press, Which Happens to Be . . . FEMA
By Al KamenFriday, October 26, 2007; 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 (see the Fox News video of the news conference carried on the Think Progress Web site), MSNBC and other outlets.
Johnson stood behind a lectern and began with an overview before saying he would take a few questions. The first questions were about the "commodities" being shipped to Southern California and how officials are dealing with people who refuse to evacuate. He responded eloquently.
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.
FEMA press secretary Aaron Walker interrupted at one point to caution he'd allow just "two more questions." Later, he called for a "last question."
"Are you happy with FEMA's response so far?" a reporter asked. Another asked about "lessons learned from Katrina."
"I'm very happy with FEMA's response so far," Johnson said, hailing "a very smoothly, very efficiently performing team."
"And so I think what you're really seeing here is the benefit of experience, the benefit of good leadership and the benefit of good partnership," Johnson said, "none of which were present in Katrina." (Wasn't Michael Chertoff DHS chief then?) 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.
Asked about this, Widomski said: "We had been getting mobbed with phone calls from reporters, and this was thrown together at the last minute."
But the staff did not make up the questions, he said, and Johnson did not know what was going to be asked. "We pulled questions from those we had been getting from reporters earlier in the day." Despite the very short notice, "we were expecting the press to come," he said, but they didn't. So the staff played reporters for what on TV looked just like the real thing.
"If the worst thing that happens to me in this disaster is that we had staff in the chairs to ask questions that reporters had been asking all day, Widomski said, "trust me, I'll be happy."
Heck of a job, Harvey.
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