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"GOPrincess wrote:
A brief postscript to our discussion about the media in this thread last night and this morning, Fox News
just had a tour of the emergency command center. They had huge screens on one wall with 8 different TV
news channels playing, including cable and local news channels.

The military gentleman giving the Fox reporter the tour praised the media saying that it was thanks to the
news they had the initial situation reports from the "front" and they could see where help was needed, or
words to that effect. "

This is the room I'm in as I type this, the room I've been in what seems like non-stop since last Saturday:

http://users.in-motion.net/~jefft/tech/home.html

As you can see, I'm in a pretty giood position to compare the information available via the network feeds with what has been available on the internet, primarily here.

All week, the media has been running between 24 to 72 hours behind the information we have had available here.

If FEMA really wants to get accurate situational awareness and assessments, they need to exchange those TV's for computers, and simply sign up here at Free Republic.

This suggestion is not made in jest.

We have the ability to harness the efforts of thousands of people digging for information. Liasons from numerous governmental and private agencies could benefit themselves and those they serve from this exact kind of information mining. Instead of a passive presence, which I do not discount even now, they would be able to actively solicit specific information as needed.

I do not know whether it is within Free Republic's interest or capabilities, but the potential benefit of this data flow cannot be overestimated.