{"id":7982,"date":"2006-07-20T10:10:13","date_gmt":"2006-07-20T14:10:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com\/archives\/7982.html"},"modified":"2006-07-20T10:10:13","modified_gmt":"2006-07-20T14:10:13","slug":"fema-muzzles-katrina-victims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/fema-muzzles-katrina-victims\/","title":{"rendered":"FEMA muzzles Katrina victims"},"content":{"rendered":"

As if [tag]FEMA[\/tag] hasn’t done enough already, the agency now believes it can interfere<\/a> with hurricane victims living in FEMA [tag]trailer parks[\/tag] doing [tag]interview[\/tag]s with [tag]reporters[\/tag]. If there’s a reasonable explanation for this, I can’t think of it.<\/p>\n

Residents of trailer parks set up by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to house hurricane victims in Louisiana aren’t allowed to talk to the [tag]press[\/tag] without an official escort, The (Baton Rouge) Advocate reported.<\/p>\n

In one instance, a security guard ordered an Advocate reporter out of a trailer during an interview in Morgan City. Similar FEMA rules were enforced in Davant, in Plaquemines Parish.<\/p>\n

FEMA spokeswoman Rachel Rodi wouldn’t say whether the security guards’ actions complied with FEMA policy, saying the matter was being reviewed. But she confirmed that FEMA does not allow the news media to speak alone to residents in their trailers.<\/p>\n

“If a resident invites the media to the trailer, they have to be escorted by a FEMA representative who sits in on the interview,” Rodi told the newspaper for its July 15 report. “That’s just a [tag]policy[\/tag].”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

No, that’s just crazy. There’s no legal way for a government agency to interfere with two<\/i> First Amendment freedoms, without explanation, simply because the affected Americans happen to have been victims of a hurricane.<\/p>\n

Imagine losing your home to Katrina. You feel like your government has let you down. Left with limited options, you’re living in a FEMA trailer park, which is on public property. A reporter wants to talk to you about your experiences — but the government tells you that you’re not allowed<\/i> to talk to a journalist without a FEMA representative on hand to [tag]monitor[\/tag] what you say.<\/p>\n

Asked for an explanation, you’re told, “That’s just a policy.”
\n<\/p>\n

Gregg Leslie, legal defense director for the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, said FEMA’s refusal to allow trailer-park residents to invite news media into their homes unescorted was [tag]unconstitutional[\/tag].<\/p>\n

Morgan City Mayor Timothy Matte told The Advocate that he was surprised residents were being barred from talking to reporters.<\/p>\n

“I would think anyone who lives there would be allowed to have any visitor they wanted,” he said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I have a hunch we’ll see this policy get “corrected” fairly soon. It’s inviting a lawsuit FEMA is certain to lose. And as a matter of common sense, it’s indefensible.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As if [tag]FEMA[\/tag] hasn’t done enough already, the agency now believes it can interfere with hurricane victims living in FEMA [tag]trailer parks[\/tag] doing [tag]interview[\/tag]s with [tag]reporters[\/tag]. If there’s a reasonable explanation for this, I can’t think of it. Residents of trailer parks set up by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to house hurricane victims in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[617],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7982","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7982","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7982"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7982\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}