This from today's Washington Post: FEMA gave reporters 15 minutes notice that the deputy administrator would be having a briefing at HQ, "making it unlikely," as the Post says, "that many could show up at FEMA's Southwest D.C. offices." But they did give out an 800 number for reporters to call in--on a "listen only" line--no questions. Miraculously, a few questions were asked on live TV, softballs though they were, so one would suppose that the FEMA press room does have a few stalwarts who, like their colleagues in the White House, never leave.
One would be wrong, of course. In a new low for managed news, press aides pretended to be reporters and asked canned questions.
I"ve written about rogue PR operations before here, and my Christian Science Monitor column about "astroturf" letters to the editor got a lot of attention. I hope this story sparks some outrage too. I know that practically the only people who care about press ethics anymore are the good folks at the Poynter Institute and one or two newspaper ombduspeople, but really, this is going too far.
Headline Update Updated Headline:
FEMA now says it's "reviewing" its' press procedures.
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