FEMA, providing comedy in troubled times
FEMA: the federal agency so ridicluous, you can't really satirize it. Their latest stunt? A fake news conference:
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.
Heh!
FEMA "issued the apology after The Washington Post published details of the Tuesday briefing." Shocking! Somebody noticed! Who'd have thunk it? Jeez, these people can't even be incompetent competently.
"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."
"Error in judgment"? LOL! In what conceivable universe could anyone have thought that this was the correct judgment, so as to make such an "error" possible?
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."
"We have made it clear that stunts such as this will not be tolerated or repeated," spokeswoman Laura Keehner said. She said the department was looking at the possibility of reprimanding those responsible.
Oh, that's good. Better yet, why don't you set up a committee to study the issue of whether a reprimand would be appropriate. And then create a panel to read that committee's report. And then ignore it and give the offending parties the Congressional Medal of Freedom instead.
God bless America.
The Bush Administration talks about running government as efficiently as a business. What would happen at a major U.S. corporation if its PR department pulled this kind of stunt? EVERYONE responsible would be looking for a new job...TODAY!
Fire people. That's how you hold them accountable.
Posted by: Mad Max, Esquire | Oct 26, 2007 10:56:08 PM
I think this is absolutely embarassing and disgusting, the problem is Americans have so little respect for this organization under this administration that it's what is now expected. A fake press conference with fake reporters!??!?!? If this were real news, people would have to have expectations of their government, instead I just watched Bill O'Reilly interview "Horshack" from 'Welcome Back Kotter'. Why!?
Posted by: Sandy Underpants | Oct 26, 2007 11:56:09 PM
Was it really a fake news conference, or did the reporters just not show up? It sounds like FEMA didn't give them enough notice, so nobody was there.
I'm no fan of FEMA, but as a general question, what the hell do you do if you call a press conference and nobody shows up?
Posted by: Doc | Oct 27, 2007 1:29:26 AM
Cancel it?
Posted by: Brendan | Oct 27, 2007 1:36:03 AM
That works best if it's not something important. If I call a news conference to display my Halloween costume, and nobody shows, I can cancel it.
This sounds like something news-worthy, so if you can't cancel, what do you do? Clearly, pretending that your staff members are reporters is a bad call.
Would this fly? Apologize for the short notice and resultant lack of reporters, make your statement, then answer some of the questions you prepared for.
Posted by: Doc | Oct 27, 2007 2:10:05 AM
Doc-
I guess it would be out of the question for the FEMA spokesperson to just read a statement and not take questions from fake reporters? Two wrongs don't make a right.
Posted by: Mad Max, Esquire | Oct 27, 2007 12:59:05 PM
Heh!
Everyone knows no one is allowed to have fake reporters but Big Media.
Posted by: Mindsurfer | Oct 27, 2007 2:18:59 PM
Right Mindsurfer, cause this administration never got caught using planted "reporters" in its press conferences...
Posted by: David K. | Oct 27, 2007 3:26:59 PM
By the way, my Walter Sobchak this year? Right on target.
Three thousand years of beautiful tradition from Moses down to Sandy Koufax... you're goddamned right I'm living in the past.
Posted by: Doc | Oct 27, 2007 4:46:03 PM
Mad Max - it may be news to you, but a lot of us *already* realise that the politician nowadays has remarkably little real control over an entrenched bureaucracy ... especially when said entrenched bureaucracy knows that every two or four or six years, said politicians quite often aren't around any more to disturb the tranquility of said entrenched bureaucrats ...
According to the article (and allowing for perceptible 'tilt' in it), the conference was called at short notice, and, while it was apparently a live feed to news organisations, no actual reporters showed up - "But with no reporters on hand and an agency video camera providing a feed carried live by some television networks, FEMA press employees posed the questions for Johnson that included: "Are you happy with FEMA's response so far?"" ... so - under such circumstances, what would *you* have done to get any useful information out ?
If it helps, think of it as a live application of the fake-but-accurate concept ...
Does anyone have an URL for the video fed ?
Posted by: Alasdair | Oct 28, 2007 12:50:24 PM
In what conceivable universe could anyone have thought that this was the correct judgment, so as to make such an "error" possible?
A post-Katrina universe in which FEMA has nothing but contempt for the media.
Posted by: Joe Mama | Oct 28, 2007 10:24:42 PM