WASHINGTON -- One way to get decent
coverage in this rough-and-tumble city is to arrange to have your own
employees interrogate you at your news conference.
That would seem to be the strategy of the Federal Emergency
Management Agency, much maligned for its sluggish response to Hurricane
Katrina over two years ago.
FEMA scheduled an early afternoon news briefing on only 15
minutes notice to reporters here Tuesday to talk about its handling of
assistance to victims of wildfires that were ravaging much of Southern
California.
But because there was so little advance notice for the event
held by Vice Adm. Harvey E. Johnson, the deputy FEMA administrator, the
agency made available an 800 number so reporters could call in. And
many did, although it was a listen-only arrangement.
At the news conference itself, some FEMA employees played the
role of reporter, asking questions of Johnson — queries described as
soft and gratuitous.
"I'm very happy with FEMA's response," Johnson said in reply
to one query from a person who was an agency employee, not an
independent journalist.