Day 331: Something Smells Rotten In Trailerland

Jul 25, 2006 by

Since when do we need to have a government representative along for a press interview? This has just got to be illegal, or at least would have been in Pre-Bush America. I don’t know which angers me more, this Orwellian supervision or the Harrah’s sponsored KAtrina Anniversary plans recently unveiled.

FEMA a Disaster for Freedom of the Press

The Federal Emergency Management Agency prohibits journalists from having unsupervised interviews with Hurricane Katrina victims who have been relocated to FEMA trailer parks, according to a report in the Baton Rouge Advocate (7/15/06).

“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 spokesperson Rachel Rodi is quoted in the article. “That’s just a policy.”

The Advocate report, by reporter Sandy Davis, describes two separate attempts to talk to people displaced by Katrina that were halted by the intervention of a FEMA security guard. In the first incident, in a Morgan City, Louisiana camp, an interview was interrupted by a guard who claimed that residents of the camp are “not allowed” to talk to the media.

Any followup info would be appreciated. All we have right now is hope that the truth will make an impact. Denying people the right to speak frankly about the circumstances they have been thrust into is about as anti-American as it gets. Hardly shocking during an administration which seems terrified of the idea of free speech.

Here’s toast tot he ghost of McCarthy…..

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