Thread: THE GESTAPO (oops, I mean FEMA) AT WORK.....

FEMA bans reporters from Katrina victims
Residents of trailer parks not permitted to talk with media unless agent present
Posted: July 26, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern

Federal officials are preventing Hurricane Katrina victims in government trailer parks from being interviewed by the media unless a FEMA agent is present at all times.

The rule is coming under heavy fire from Louisiana's congressional delegation who are blasting the policy as absurd and outrageous.

"How in the world can you stop someone in their home from talking to whomever they want?" Rep. Bobby Jindal, R-Kenner, asked the Baton Rouge Advocate. "It's a freedom of speech issue; it's a freedom of association issue."

Jindal was reacting to an incident the paper reported July 15, where a reporter and photographer were ordered off a Federal Emergency Management Agency-operated trailer park in Morgan City, La.

The journalists were invited to a trailer by resident Dekotha Devall and her family. But during the interview, the news team was ordered by a security guard to leave.

When the reporter tried giving a business card to Devall, the security guard called police, saying such an act was forbidden.

The guard also told another resident, Pansy Ardeneaux, she was not permitted to speak to reporters through a chain-link fence at the park and ordered her back to her trailer.

Upon learning of the incident, FEMA officials said media had to be escorted at all times by members of the agency.

"If a resident invites the media to the trailer, they have to be escorted by a FEMA representative who sits in on the interview," FEMA spokeswoman Rachel Rodi told the Advocate. "That's just policy."

FEMA says it's not allowing media easy access to its trailer parks in order to "protect the privacy" of those dwelling there.

Jindal calls such a policy ridiculous.

"FEMA just strikes you as a bureaucracy that's out of control," the congressman said. "You don't lose your fundamental rights just because you're living in temporary housing. It's an outrageous pattern of behavior."

"To try and defend the behavior and say that was FEMA policy added insult to injury," Jindal added. "FEMA should have apologized and tried to rectify the situation."

Other members of Congress are stunned.

"These people are not incarcerated; they're not crooks," said Rep. Charlie Melancon, D-Napoleonville. "There's no reason why the press or anyone else shouldn't be able to talk to these folks if they want to talk."

Rep. Charles W. Boustany, R-Lafayette, noted, "This seems to be a clear case of arrogance coupled with incompetence and that' s not a good combination. I don't think the heavy hand of government should be telling people what they can and can't do in that regard."

The Society of Professional Journalists has already sent a complaint to FEMA Director David R. Paulison. It was signed by SPJ president David E. Carlson and Charles N. Davis, co-chair of the Freedom of Information Committee.

"On behalf of the Society of Professional Journalists, we are writing to express outrage at the treatment given to residents of FEMA parks in Louisiana and the journalists trying to report their stories," the two wrote.

"We are outraged by the arrogance and contempt for public discourse on display in Louisiana, a year after FEMA's performance in the wake of Katrina earned it widespread criticism," the letter states. "Now FEMA is banning reporters from public property as reporters try to provide scrutiny of the agency.

"We fail to see how such journalism is anything but the very sort of newsgathering for which the First Amendment was created," the letter says.

The message requests FEMA evaluate "the constitutionality of any policy that dictates when and how those affected by FEMA's work may speak to the press."

It concludes, "Receipt of FEMA aid should not mean that citizens leave their constitutional rights behind."
http://wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=51240

Pffft, I wonder what they're afraid of??? :roll: :roll: :roll:

FEMA is a laughing stock. I just saw a news piece that they believe that over 1,100 inmates applied AND RECEIVED those debit cards they handed out last year. A DOH!

I would not want some snoopy ass reporter nosing around my trailer if I was in one of those parks bugging me after what these guys have been through during the storm. Go Fema

The journalists were invited to a trailer by resident Dekotha Devall and her family. But during the interview, the news team was ordered by a security guard to leave.

Someone INVITED them... they have no right to tell those people who they can talk to. Since they most likely own or run the trailer park, I can undertand not wanting the media inside, but if these people choose to talk to them, they should not be forced to bring a spy for FEMA along.

Go Fema

Ummmmm........that's called censored news. Biased to the core. I guess that means Fox News will be the only source (no bid contract of course) for info from New Orleans.

David, how can you support censored reporting? Are you ok with only getting one side of the story? Freedom of speech cannot nor shall not be stifled. These people have a legit reason to get the media to help them (because we all know how much the gov and FEMA helped them) and you (a fellow LA boy) are hindering their rights to speak out and get some justice and help.

Help them, don't censor them. Besides, how can you support FEMA after what they did, or more importantly, DIDN'T do

it is a clear violation of freedom of speech as well as a step towards a dictatorship (much like England was a few hundred years ago in the parliamentary still existed as a rubber stamp on whatever the king/queen desired) seeing as how FEMA is a government agency

I didnt clarify myself. That one couple invited them in but there is a FEMA park down the road several miles from me and everyday when you pass by it, there are reporters and media vans out there trying to get a story from everyone. Its ratings. I have met several refugees and talked to them at the local bar for Happy Hour and they say they get a door nocked on by them all the time. I take it they are fed up and want to be left alone. Maybe the couple did not know that complaints had been made about the media to FEMA in their parks and they put a stop to it so the rest could get peace and now the media is turning on the propaganda machine..

Hey Dave, which park are you talking about? I know the city like the back of my hand. It's not important, I'm just curious.

Actually I'm goin back in a few weeks to help some friends and I would like to talk to a few people in those parks. I had some interesting conversations in the FEMA park on Rampart and Esplanade.

I have 2 homes questionmark. One is in Monroe where I am at now and the park in question is on Hwy80 east about 4 miles from my house on the outskirts of town in a pecan orchard. The samething is happening up here.If you trespess and you don't live their you are asked to leave or or go to jail.

MONROE????????? Man, you're a northerner. Anything north of Baton Rouge concidered the north to me.