FEMA's Fake Press Conference: Biggest Bonehead PR Move of 2007

In what has to be the single dumbest PR move of 2007 (that I know of, anyway), the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) staged a fake press conference last week. The topic: the agency's response to the wildfires in Southern California.

The Associated Press' account of the fake press conference had this to say:

The agency - much maligned for its sluggish response to Hurricane Katrina over two years ago - arranged to have FEMA employees play the part of reporters at the event Tuesday and question Vice Adm. Harvey E. Johnson, the deputy director.

The questions were soft and gratuitous.

"I'm very happy with FEMA's response," Johnson said in reply to one query from an agency employee.

FEMA gave reporters only 15 minutes' notice about Tuesday's news conference. But because of the short notice, the agency made available an 800 number so reporters could call in. Many did, although it was a listen-only arrangement.

Johnson said Friday that FEMA's goal was "to get information out as soon as possible, and in trying to do so we made an error in judgment."

This was a completely boneheaded move for many reasons. First and foremost, FEMA is a public agency, and this duplicitous move betrayed the public trust. Second, from a media relations perspective this move severely undermined FEMA's credibility with the reporters who cover its activities.

Homeland Security Chief Michael Chertoff got it right, saying "I think it was one of the dumbest and most inappropriate things I've seen since I've been in government."