Public Relations Staff blamed FEMA € ™ s â € € œfakeâ Press Conference
Public affairs employees were to blame for the botched œfakeâ € â € the press conference that the Federal Emergency Management Agency organized 23 October during fire California. The briefing sparked a storm of criticism.
FEMA chief David Paulison said the rush willing â € œpress conferenceâ € (without release) had a â € € œdevastatingâ impact on FEMA € ™ s already damaged credibility. He placed the blame for the debacle on the shoulders of PA employees.
The incident was also embarrassing for the PR Society as one of the major players was John Philbin, director of the PA of 100 people of staff, an accredited member of PRS and holds a doctorate in communications / PR, University of Maryland. His college adviser was James Grunig, Ph.D., one of PRA € ™ s most honored educators.
Faced with this embarrassment, PRS non-flip-flops and somersaults. Your coverage in the PRS website (www.prsa.org) or even mention chair Rhoda Weiss Philbin and not talk to him until Nov. 12 or 13 days after October 30 ERP web history. No one had spoken to PRS then.
Several letters published in the story on the PRS website said Philbin and two asked if their April could be a € € These œrevoked.â two letters were removed from the site.
PA should have stopped It – Paulison
Paulison, a career that reached fightfighter Fire Chief of Miami-Dade before that joining the federal government in 2001, said the € â € œcareerâ people in FEMA PA â € € upa œshould have intensified and stopped the session.
Philbin, right, says the New York Times: â € OEI should have stopped, I should have a jump, no matter how uncomfortable that would Beena € | â €
Government PA Veteran, however, thought that the main blame should have rested on FEMA's No. 2 official Harvey Johnson, who conducted the briefing and referring to senior members of the FEMA just yards ahead of him in a small room.
CBS News published a photograph of Johnson addressed the employees and appointed most of them. The 12 minutes the entire conference was also put on You Tube.
In it, Johnson can be heard talking rapidly and almost non-stop, saying that FEMA had gone immediately to the fire scene, was working closely with officials Local and state and behaved much better than it did after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans. FEMA then and now was said to be a € œday and night.â €
Philbin had left FEMA on October 12 to join the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Oct. 25, but after the œfake â € € conferenceâ ODNI flap cancels the job.
Another victim was press secretary Aaron Walker, who said he had planned to leave all ways to join a public relations firm in Utah. He was fired by FEMA.
FEMA RushedOfficials conference was part of the Homeland Security Department, were anxious to show that FEMA was a good performance in relation to forest fires which then beat in California.
FEMA € ™ s poor the performance after Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans was well documented.
HSD, led by Secretary Michael Chertoff had ordered the conference around noon. Chertoff and Paulison were now on a flight to San Diego. Chertoff was one of the harshest critics of FEMA € ™ s PA, saying the information was â € œone of the most stupid and most inappropriate I'ma ™ € I have seen since I'ma ™ € €'ve been in government and promising to â € € œdisciplinary action would be taken.
Philbin, who said he and other staff had been working long hours because of forest fires, said Oâ € ™ Dwyer € ™ s â € œadvise not authorize or € approveâ the conference, as it took place, but took responsibility because he was the chief PA. He noted that he had many duties in addition to the relations press, including PA, legislative affairs, international affairs, intergovernmental relations, private sector relations and employee communications Philbin was in the U.S. Coast Guard, and retired after 21 years of service, before taking jobs in private industry, including one with General Dynamics of the information and another with Anteon Co., supplier of 1.3 billion U.S. dollars to the intelligence community.
â € € œSoftballâ Questions asked
The media said the â € œpress consisted of a conferenceâ € € € œsoftballâ questions from FEMA staffers.
An employee asked Johnson to compare FEMA € ™ s response to forest fires and its response to Hurricane Katrina.
â € œIt was like day and night, â € he said, adding: â € œIf look at Katrina, there really was not leaning forward, not wasn t ™ € of a fabric of federal, there wasn € ™ t good communication between the government and administration FEMA.â €
With the California fires, he said, the federal partners were united in doing the tasks and controls in place and a game œfollowing € â € plan.â
â € œWe didnâ € ™ t have that kind of thing in Katrina, â € he said. â € œNow is very easy, efficient, high performing team.
At one point, someone asked, â € œAny questions, please, â € and a staff member in the audience asked: â € œAre happy with FEMA € ™ s the response so far? â €
Johnson said: â € IAEA € ™ m very happy with FEMA € ™ s the response so far. He said FEMA was œaggressively linkedâ € â € to state and local authorities and all government units were œtogether as Team â € € | listening to the mayor of San Diego on FEMA € ™ s performance and HEA € ™ ll tell you couldn € ™ t be happier with the support provideda € | ask Governor Schwarzenegger what he thinks about FEMA € ™ s performance and he will tell you what same, that couldn t be happier ™ € that FEMA recognizes the role of the federal government to coordinate efforts for the benefit of the state and community.â €
FEMA is prepared for disasters
As a final point, Johnson said that what the U.S. public is seeing the fires in California is â € œThe benefit from the experience, the benefit of good leadership, the benefit of good partnership, none of whom were present at Katrina. So I think that as a nation, people should sit up and take note that this was the worst fire season in California history and see how governments State and local agencies are doing, look how well they are working with its federal partners. Itâ € ™ sa good thing to see and reassuring the public that if a disaster does strike our paas € | wea € ™ ll do the same, wea € ™ ll gather, wea € ™ ll support state and local government.â €
PRS and Weiss offered FEMA code
The PR SocietyA € ™ s coverage of the FEMA press conference incident through a story on tactics / October 30, online, Philbin did not mention by name. Instead, the issue was to advise FEMA to follow the Code of Ethics â PRS € œwhich requires a member to be honest and accurate in all communications, â € â € œavoid deceptive practices, â € and â € œpreserve integrity communication.â process €
The issue, said the chair Rhoda Weiss was available â € OETB transmit and detail PRSA € ™ s recommendations € or through live or recorded appearances and phone interviews.
She was quoted as saying â € œStrong ethics is the central criterion that guides public relations professionals every day in how we advise the leaders of communication management. We encourage FEMA and all government agencies to adopt the Code of Ethics and PRS PRS offers its assistance to establish effective guidelines quickly.â €
Letters The story mentioned Philbin PRS received 11 letters from members, most of them condemning the FEMA conference and one of them asking if ™ € s membered unable April being eliminated in the case of a â € € œegregious violation.â
The letter was from Cassandra Stalzer, specialist PA, USA Department of Agriculture, Palmer, Alaska.
Gwyn Walcoff, Annapolis PR adviser, then sent a letter stating that she is the ethics chair of the National Capital, the largest ERP chapter with some 1,200 members.
She said, commenting Stalzerâ € ™ s question, it would be â € œvery interested in knowing if a formal complaint was made about it. PRS has mitigating the facts we seek to guide our response.â €
Stalzer said Oâ € ™ Dwyer € ™ s that what most concerns about this œdebacleâ € â € â € is that œPRS not have the ability to revoke the April of any member who violates the Code unless € | who are convicted of a felony, subject to a sanction of government, or misuse of its designation.â €
She said: â € œWithout capacity, or perhaps the will to enforce ethical standards, what does the designation April really represent? â € Stalzer, Stalzer Removed The Walcoff letters and cards were removed from Walcoff line tactics sometime during the week which began on 12 November.
Philbin said that no ERP or tactics had called him to verify his version of the story that appeared on the site PRS website on October 30. Weiss tried to reach during the week of Nov. 5. His call was returned by the staff member Joe DeRupo PR Weiss said he was traveling and wanted talk to him on November 12 (which would be 13 days after Oct. 30 in the online tactical history.
Philbin, Weiss said he had called November 12 and had a conversation œcordial € â € with her. I did not think about the conversation online tactics would monitor history.
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