FEMA Stages Fake News Briefing - Staff Pose as Reporters

By Anastacia Mott Austin

FEMA just can’t seem to get things right.

While compliments have been coming in over FEMA’s handling of the raging southern California fires, comparing it favorably to the dismal response to Hurricane Katrina, one would think all the agency would need to do is simply continue to do its job.

But no. In response to the multitude of phone calls from reporters asking questions, FEMA decided to give a news briefing—except that the "reporters" in attendance were not really reporters at all, but FEMA staffers who had been given set questions to ask.

Why? And more importantly, why? FEMA’s deputy director Harvey E. Johnson, who appeared at the pretend news briefing and answered questions from his own staff, didn’t seem to have much of an explanation other than the fact that the agency had been bombarded with questions and they wanted to get the information out as quickly as possible. Johnson later issued a statement saying that the agency had made "an error in judgment" in staging the briefing.

FEMA is quick to point out that real journalists were informed about the briefing, albeit fifteen minutes before it started. Understandably, they did not have enough time to attend. However, an 800 number was set up to receive calls from real reporters, yet their questions were not broadcast on the air.

Some viewers sensed something fishy when the "reporters" seemed to give Johnson an unlimited amount of time to talk about what a great job FEMA was doing with the fires.

The questions posed included those such as, "Are you happy with FEMA’s reponse so far?" And "What lessons learned from Katrina have been applied?" This gave Johnson openings to respond, not surprisingly, with "I’m very happy with FEMA's response so far. This is a FEMA and a federal government that’s leaning forward, not waiting to react. And you have to be pretty pleased to see that."

Johnson’s response to the query about the comparison between the southern California fires and Hurricane Katrina was as follows: "I think what you're really seeing here is the benefit of experience, the benefit of good leadership and the benefit of good partnership, none of which were present in Katrina. So, I think, as a nation, people should sit up and take notice that you have the worst wildfire season in history in California and look at how well the state and local governments are performing, look at how well we're working together between state and federal partners."

The White House had a few things to say about FEMA’s actions. Dana Perino, White House Press Secretary, told reporters, "We didn’t know about it beforehand. It’s FEMA’s responsibility. And they have accepted that responsibility, and they issued an apology…They have admitted that they had an error in judgment."

Johnson did issue a statement expressing regret over the incident. The statement read in part, "FEMA’s goal is to get information out as soon as possible, and in trying to do so we made an error in judgment. Our intent was to provide useful information and be responsive to the many questions we have received. We are reviewing our press procedures and will make the changes necessary to ensure that all of our communications are straightforward and transparent."

Despite accusations of staging the briefing in order to avoid "real" questions that would have been much tougher than those posed by FEMA staff, the agency insists that the only motivation for faking the press conference was to get the information out as quickly as possible.