FEMA bans reporters from Katrina victims
Jindal was reacting to an incident the paper reported July 15, where a reporter and photographer were ordered off a Federal Emergency Management Agency-operated trailer park in Morgan City, La.
The journalists were invited to a trailer by resident Dekotha Devall and her family. But during the interview, the news team was ordered by a security guard to leave.
When the reporter tried giving a business card to Devall, the security guard called police, saying such an act was forbidden.
The guard also told another resident, Pansy Ardeneaux, she was not permitted to speak to reporters through a chain-link fence at the park and ordered her back to her trailer.
The guard also told another resident, Pansy Ardeneaux, she was not permitted to speak to reporters through a chain-link fence at the park and ordered her back to her trailer.
Upon learning of the incident, FEMA officials said media had to be escorted at all times by members of the agency.
"If a resident invites the media to the trailer, they have to be escorted by a FEMA representative who sits in on the interview," FEMA spokeswoman Rachel Rodi told the Advocate. "That's just policy."
FEMA says it's not allowing media easy access to its trailer parks in order to "protect the privacy" of those dwelling there.
It makes you wonder why they don't want them talking to reporters. Are they allowed to leave? They should go into town and talk with a reporter there. Make the reporter buy you lunch. Better yet, move out of there.
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