FEMA needs to watch more cable news.
Nooo! Fact is, Cable and the networks are reporting first hand accounts from random people they are encountering on the street. It doesn't seem that they are making any judgment calls as to the viability of the rumors they are reporting. I hope FEMA is receiving it's information from personnel on the ground with specific knowledge, not someone who is afraid, thirsty, desperate, etc.... There is a place for the FNC/CNN/MSNBC 'human interest' stories, but as for using it for the allocation of critical assets -- I think not.
Just look at how excited the entire MSM (and frankly here at FR as well) gets with every new sensationalist story they get to report... J.C. I just listened to a description of the bathroom situation in the Super Dome... What does that matter? The press is not serving the public interest by fomenting despair across the nation for ratings. They should be providing information and protecting information (AQ road maps abound.. Think about it).
Outside of the WSJ, just where (especially on TV) are we seeing real news like:
1. Briefings on the national gasoline situation. How long until the relaxed EPA standards smooth out the supply problems areas are about to face? Just why was that decision so important to our current situation.
2. Current status of gulf oil/gas production. Can we please have an explanation why the national guard hasn't (or maybe it has?) escorted the engineers out to the evacuated refineries? Right now the Journal lists close to 1mm bpd of refinery production that has not been inspected due to the mandatory evacuation order.
3. While they are still evacuating thousands, close to a million fled and are looking now at what must at least feel like a total loss. What are the next steps they should be taking? What do they do if they don't have their documentation, and how can others help? How can people help family members that are now camped out in their living rooms?
This is a NATIONAL EMERGENCY -- not murder in Aruba, they should be using a public service test for every story they run. The public would reward them if they did so.
FEMA needs to watch more cable news.
I don't think FEMA was aware that the Superdome was a complete disaster because no one locally had bothered to tell them.