FEMA Press Policy Outrage July 30, 2006
Posted by poseidon715 in Hurricane Katrina Relief, Politics, media.comments closed
I am sickened by what I have read concerning FEMA’s press policy in their government funded trailer park communities. Read these links!
Basically, FEMA will not allow reporters to interview people staying in these parks on the park property – and reporters are not allowed on the park property to get to people to interview. These people do not have phones, either – except the limited cellphones provided by FEMA. Offsite, trailer park residents are not allowed to speak to members of the press without an official FEMA representative present. This is essentially a forced media blackout of prison-like conditions.
FEMA’s response to these allegations is here , and an article on the inadequacy of that response here . None of this, they submit, is official FEMA policy. OK, official or not, it is happening. In fact, there is a track record of media abuses in New Orleans, including an incident of the police breaking reporters’ cameras after photographing brutality.
Where is the mainstream press on this?
