Paul Wilczynski's Observations

Purported government attempts to restrict Katrina coverage

Media Matters for America discusses purported government attempts to restrict Katrina coverage.

A September 7 Reuters article reported that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) "asked the media not to take pictures of those killed by Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath" and "refused to take reporters and photographers along on boats seeking victims in flooded areas." FEMA's actions, along with further reports that the government is obstructing journalists in New Orleans, have drawn little attention -- and even less outrage -- from the very media institutions that the agency, part of the Bush administration, seeks to repress. Media Matters for America wonders: What will it take for the media to protest (or at least report) the Bush administration's efforts to control them?

According to the Reuters article, free speech watchdog groups, such as PEN American Center and the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, decried FEMA's purported actions as "simply mind-boggling." Reuters quoted Tom Rosenstiel, director of Columbia University's Project for Excellence in Journalism, describing FEMA's decision as "an invitation to chaos," and claiming it "is about managing images and not public taste or human dignity." Reuters said that FEMA's purported attempts to restrict photographs of Katrina victims "is in line with the Bush administration's ban on images of flag-draped U.S. military coffins returning from the Iraq war." In a September 8 Philadelphia Inquirer column, television columnist Gail Shister quoted Alex Jones, director of Harvard University's Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy: " 'I think they want to minimize the perception that the government didn't do its job,' says Jones, a former New York Times reporter and Pulitzer Prize-winner. 'I'm very suspicious of their motives.' " Editor & Publisher also noted FEMA's actions and the reactions of journalist groups in a September 8 article. ...

posted by Paul Wilczynski @ 8:56 AM