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Fall 2007 Bulletin
FEMA Holds Press Conference … for Itself
A press conference the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) held on Oct. 23, 2007 praising its own response to the wildfires in Southern California lacked a key attendee: the press.
According to The Washington Post on October 26, FEMA announced the press conference about 15 minutes before it was set to begin, leaving too little time for any reporters to attend. Reporters were able to listen in on the proceedings on a toll-free telephone line; however, they were barred from asking questions. The press conference was also carried live by several cable news networks, including Fox News and MSNBC.
At the press conference, Deputy Administrator Vice Adm. Harvey E. Johnson, Jr. explained how local, state, and federal entities were working together to provide aid to those displaced by the catastrophic wildfires near San Diego and Los Angeles. He favorably compared the agency’s response to the 2005 Katrina debacle. Johnson also took several questions from people off-camera. It was later reported that the questions, such as “Are you happy with FEMA’s response so far?” and “What lessons learned from Katrina have been applied?” came from FEMA staffers, not journalists.
When The Washington Post first reported the fake press conference three days after it was staged, rebukes came from the Bush administration and other agencies.
According to The New York Times, a spokeswoman for Department of Homeland Security director Michael Chertoff said “We have made it clear that such a stunt will never be tolerated or repeated.” The Department of Homeland Security oversees FEMA.
According to The Washington Post, White House press secretary Dana Perino said on October 26, “It is not a practice that we would employ here at the White House. We certainly don’t condone it. They, I’m sure, will not do it again.”
The Washington Post reported that Johnson issued an official apology shortly after the staged briefing was disclosed. “We are reviewing our press procedures and will make the changes necessary to ensure that all of our communications are straight forward and transparent,” the apology said. “We can and must do better, and apologize for this error in judgment.”
Journalists also responded swiftly and harshly.
Bob Schieffer, in his October 28 commentary on CBS’ “Face the Nation” said, “Somewhere on [FEMA’s] employment application form there must be a clause that says, ‘Your IQ must be below a certain level to work here.’ Fire these people and the people who hired them and then explain to the new people that the best way for a disaster relief agency to get good publicity is to do a good job helping disaster victims.”
In an October 29 online chat with readers, Washington Post columnist Howard Kurtz said he agreed with Chertoff’s assertion that the fake press conference was “the dumbest thing he’s seen in government in a long time.”
“How anyone at FEMA thought this was a remotely acceptable idea, and thought they could get away with it, boggles the imagination,” Kurtz said, adding, “The question I have is whether any heads will roll. This was, after all, a form of lying to the public.”
On November 9, The Washington Post reported that an internal investigation concluded that the agency’s press secretary directed the aides to pose as reporters, secretly coached them during the briefing and ended the event after a final, scripted question was asked. The Post said the report did not explain the rushed timing of the briefing, nor did it say whether Johnson was told prior to the briefing that aides would ask him questions. Russ Knocke, the acting director of external affairs who conducted the review, said it “found nothing that indicated malicious or preconceived intent to deceive the media or the public,” according to the Post.
FEMA press secretary Aaron Walker has resigned effective December 7 as a result of the fake briefing, the Post reported, and the agency’s director of external communications, John Philbin, was subsequently denied a job as senior spokesman for the Director of National Intelligence.
- Patrick File, Silha Fellow and Bulletin Editor
University of Minnesota | College of Liberal Arts | School of Journalism and Mass Communication
