FEMA Fakes Press Conference to Save Time
Last week a group of federal employees served as proxy reporters for a press conference regarding the California wildfires with the deputy chief of FEMA.
Why would FEMA want to stage a fake conference about the California wildfires? It's not only unethical; it's ... lame. It's like something you'd get in trouble for in elementary school ("Sorry, Mrs. Jewls, I couldn't actually find a famous person to interview, so I made one up.")
FEMA's excuse: it had no time to wait for real reporters.
"We had been getting mobbed with phone calls from reporters, and this was thrown together at the last minute," said deputy director Mike Widomski, of FEMA's public affairs.
Time being precious, "the PR people just turned on the cameras and tossed softballs to their boss," says USA Today.
Way to invest in the health of the public/media/government relationship.
The story's worth a read and includes questions and answers from the press -- er, federal employee -- conference. Thanks Brian for sending it over.
Comments
I worked for DHS following the storms of 04, many unpaid hours because of the workload. Now they don't want to hire me back because of some DUI/Resisting arrest charges from years ago. And those charges were from having a seizure. We had one of the highest acceptance of PWs because myself and one other of our four man team worked our butt off. We were there to work. E and I worked while others were out having a good time. And the kicker is, we were all paid the same. E and I use to talk about how unfair it was but like he always said, "we're there to do a job, not to play". It really burns me when I see articles about how DHS throws honesty and ethics out the window yet they want to pass judgment on me for something that happened, (that I had no control over) years ago.