FEMA a Disaster for Freedom of the Press

[Guest guest]

FEMA a Disaster for Freedom of the Press

Katrina victims " not allowed " to talk to media, reporter told

 

7/21/06

 

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.

 

Dekotha Devall, whose New Orleans home was destroyed by the storm, was

in her FEMA-provided trailer telling the Advocate reporter of the

hardships of life in the camp when a security guard knocked on the

door.

 

" You are not allowed to be here, " the guard is quoted as telling the

reporter. " Get out right now. " The guard reportedly called police to

force the journalist to leave the camp, and even prevented the

reporter from giving the interview subject a business card. " You will

not give her a business card, " the guard said. " She's not allowed to

have that. "

 

Later, at another FEMA camp in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, the

reporter attempted to talk to camp resident Pansy Ardeneaux through a

chain link fence when the same guard halted the interview. " You are

not allowed to talk to these people, " the guard told Ardeneaux.

" Return to your trailer now. " The reporter said she and an

accompanying photographer were " ordered...not to talk to anyone or

take pictures. "

 

Earlier, an interview with displaced Katrina victims by Amy Goodman of

Democracy Now! (4/24/06) was halted by FEMA security guards.

Tape-recording the accounts of residents of the FEMA-run Renaissance

Village camp outside Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Goodman was approached by

FEMA-hired security guards from Corporate Security Solutions who told

her to " turn it off. " When Goodman explained that the resident had

asked to be interviewed, she was told, " He can't. That's not his

privilege. "

 

At first, the resident talking to Goodman was told by the guard, " You

can go get interviewed as long as it's off post. " But when the

resident offered to continue the interview outside the camp, the guard

said, " Yes, you can be interviewed... if they had a FEMA

representative with them, but since they don't and do not have an

appointment.... " Interviews are allowed to proceed, the guard noted,

when " they have the FEMA public relations officer with them. "

 

In concluding the segment on her visit to the camp, Goodman reported,

" As we drove off of Renaissance Village, we were chased by the guards

in golf carts, who said they would be taking down our license plate

and that we couldn't return. "

 

Restrictions on the right of citizens to speak freely to the press

without government supervision are a clear violation of the 1st

Amendment. " They cannot deny media access, " Gregg Leslie, the legal

defense director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press,

told the Advocate, saying that FEMA's restrictions were " clearly

unconstitutional … and definitely not legal. " Referring to the

requirement that interview subjects have a FEMA escort, Leslie said,

" That's a standard for a prison, not a relief park and a temporary

shelter. "

 

Timothy Matte, the mayor of Morgan City, expressed surprise that FEMA

was enforcing limits on the free speech of disaster victims. " You

would think the people would have the same freedom there as everyone

else has, " he said.

 

ACTION: FEMA's website urges citizens to report " allegations of civil

liberties or civil rights abuses " to the Department of Homeland

Security's inspector general, who is Richard L. Skinner.

 

CONTACT:

Inspector General Richard L. Skinner

Department of Homeland Security

Washington, DC 20528

E-mail: DHSOIGHOTLINE

 

 

http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=2924