Random Musings

FEMA Death Watch

FEMA proposed a moratorium on news carrying images of bodies discovered and recovered in New Orleans and the gulf coast. They rescinded the idea when CNN filed suit.

While I normally criticize journalists who feel obligated to stick their cameras in the faces of the grieving and distraught for the sake of a cheap rating at the expense of people at their most vulnerable moments, this mandate by FEMA is different.

It is a PR move by an organization that has nothing but PR left in its bag of tricks. Having been emasculated by the White House, and turned into a home for political know nothings, FEMA needs every trick it can find to reduce the perception of their mismanagement of this disaster and enhance the perception that it knows what it is doing. Showing a growing number of recovered bodies will only rekindle the incensed disappointment that the public feels about FEMA and the politicians who failed so miserably in pre-planning and execution.

I have little doubt about the recovery; we are good at throwing hundreds of billions at problems that millions could have avoided. Will our politicians ever learn that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure or will their perpetual search for the sound bite always lead them to ignore the boring planning for the sexy swagger at a crisis?

By the way, what happened to "we'll hunt 'em down, and git 'em". Are we either all talk, or reckless lashing out? Once again... where are the planners?

posted by David Tyme @ 9:46 AM