It was a rough week for the Galveston County Daily News. On Saturday, Hurricane Ike tore off its roof and left reporters with a single cell phone from which to operate, according to the Houston Chronicle:
[Editor Heber] Taylor was blogging as the eye of the storm passed over Galveston Island and the natural gas that powered the generator was cut off. The power went out as Taylor put the period to his last sentence: "We are about to lose contact."The newspaper plunged into darkness, and the wind tore off the roof soon afterward, allowing in rain that soaked the interior. The storm surge lapped at the newspaper's doorstep.
Covering the hurricane’s aftermath brought additional challenges. Literally adding insult to injury, Galveston’s mayor, Lyda Ann Thomas, “on Monday ordered all city employees not to talk to news reporters. She did not say when that order would be lifted,” according to an article by the Daily News’s Rhiannon Meyers:
Thomas and City Manager Steve LeBlanc will be the only officials allowed to talk to reporters… But at a noon press conference Monday, Thomas and LeBlanc talked for less than 30 minutes and refused to answer more than five questions. Thomas said she would try to hold another conference today.
Daily News reporters who tried to speak to city employees were denied and told no one could talk except for the mayor and city manager.
A conversation about the complaints of media obstruction broke out on the Society of Environmental Journalists’ list-serv. (It is a private, off-the-record list, but the individuals here granted permission to quote their e-mails.) One reporter, speculating that “something’s definitely up,” pointed out a CNN article from last week, which quoted Mayor Thomas saying, "We do not intend to evacuate Galveston Island … It's the last thing we want to do. Our job is to protect lives and property, [and] right now we feel that sheltering in place is the best action for our citizens to take."
Hurricane Katrina was proof that such poor advice can come back to haunt a politician. And whether or not Thomas’s earlier decisions factored into her media blackout, authorities are very sensitive to how the public perceives their response to emergencies. On the SEJ list-serv, Dr. William Freudenburg, a professor of environment and society at the University of California, Santa Barbara, concurred:
I'm not sure what's going on in Galveston, but as someone who has paid attention to disaster research for a very long time, I can tell you that a secrecy instinct actually a fairly common reaction after a disaster. The people we call "officials" feel they're supposed to be "in charge," but they don't know what the hell to do. So they clamp down, in any way they can.
The Daily News was not the only paper frustrated by obstructions to its reporting. New Orleans Times-Picayune reporter Chris Kirkham, who has covered four hurricanes, said in an interview that roadblocks were the biggest impediment to his work. “Usually a press pass gets you through,” he said. But in his opinion local authorities were trying too hard to be “a step ahead of the media.” Earlier this week on the SEJ list-serv, Kirkham wrote:
I was there in Galveston from the beginning, and at one of the earlier news conferences the City Manager said police would take reporters out to certain areas but that "there may be things we don't want you to see.” Also tried to ban footage of any bodies (though only 5 reported so far).
Of course everyone just went out on their own anyway, but it seemed they were pretty clueless about how to be in the middle of a national story. They also keep restricting access to the heavily damaged west end of the island, for no apparent reason (roads no longer flooded).
Ostensibly, authorities want to exert some measure of information control in order to avert panic and incendiary rumor. As freelance writer Joseph Davis pointed out on the SEJ list:
[I]t's also interesting to take a few grab samples of the blogosphere-buzz someone referred to — secrecy of course shifts all of us paranoid schizophrenics into overdrive, a category some put me in … So far I have read items suggesting that they will be pulling 20,000 bodies out of there, that there is a bio-defense facility on the island, that FEMA has taken over cell phone service there, etc. I know of no reason to think any of these true.
And fear of Internet gossip should not prohibit responsible journalism. The ABC News affiliate in Houston carried a video of investigative reporter Wayne Dolcefino confronting Texas governor Rick Perry about temporary “no-fly” zones for TV helicopters over parts of the Bolivar peninsula and west Galveston, the hardest hit areas. Later in the video, Dolcefino tells the ABC anchors:
After Katrina, we were able to go to Waveland, Mississippi, and Gulfport, and Biloxi, and places that were devastated, where there were, sadly, bodies on the road. Now that’s a horrible thing to see and a horrible thing to show, but people who live there, who have friends there, who have relatives there, have a fundamental right to know that stuff. They have a fundamental right to know, not just from the words of a politician or public official, but from the news media, which are independent of government and have also the responsibility of trying to help the public evaluate response…
We couldn’t get crews back on Galveston last night and this morning until we complained on the air for about twenty hours. And it’s not because we want to sightsee, guys, it’s because we have the responsibility of telling people… I made it as clear to [Gov. Perry] off camera as I did on camera that this is not going to be tolerated. You know, we hear about disasters in other countries—what was it, Burma, Myanmar—where they won’t let people in to see and you know, this is the state of Texas; this America. And we’re not trying to interfere with rescue and search operations, nor did anyone suggest we would be.
When asked why he thought the government was obstructing access, Dolcefino did not mince words:
I don’t think they want us to see images that may remind people… of the images that we saw in New Orleans. I don’t think they want us to see the images that were seen in Waveland, Mississippi or Gulfport… I think that’s the reality; they do not want us to see yet, until they can control what we see and how we see it. And that is simply, at least in my career, unacceptable. Maybe a lot of reporters won’t say it, but I will. I think they do not want us to see images of potential fatalities that may be on land or on water.
Other reporters didn’t think access was much of a problem. The Houston Chronicle’s Matthew Tresaugue said he wasn’t sure why TV choppers were prohibited from flying last Sunday, but that there were, in fact, reporters in the air. On SEJ’s list-serv he noted that:
The Chronicle had a photographer over Bolivar on Sunday about the same time as the televised confrontation. I flew with a photographer from High Island to Galveston's west end to Surfside Beach in a Cessna yesterday, and one of our columnists and a photographer got a closer view of the same area from a helicopter. ... I think the difference is the television guys wanted to take their helicopters, and we hitched rides. On my flight, I was able to see what I needed and even double back to take second looks. I can't complain.
At any rate, its’ hard to imagine that information about the government’s response to Hurricane Ike would not get out sooner or later, and access seems to have improved since the weekend. But authorities should realize that obstructing the media’s ability to report in disaster zones only makes the public more suspicious about the adequacy of their response.
Not many know that a major hurricane - Hurricane Erin - was in the Atlantic Ocean in September of 2001. In fact, Erin was closest to NYC, and at its largest size, on 9/11 itself. Interestingly, the National Hurricane Center projected Erin to be stronger than it projected Katrina to be four years later. Shouldn’t they have prepared the upper-east coast for this major storm? Weather reports at JFK Airport indicated rain! The day after 9/11, Erin made a sharp right-hand turn (over 90°) away from NYC and back out to the Atlantic. An astronaut in the International Space Station commented on the WTC smoke plume, but made no mention of the monstrous hurricane next to it. How come? Those interested in learning the secret between hurricanes and Tesla Coils should see Dr Judy Wood’s new paper "9/11 Weather Anomalies and Field Effects". She presents evidence suggesting Erin was part of the mechanism used to turn the Twin Towers to dust. The paper is chock full of photos and analysis and is highly recommended.
http://drjudywood.com/articles/erin
How were they so sure Erin would make a sharp right hand turn away from New York and head back out to sea?
Dude, you're a nut bag.
I am a 9/11 Truther, and all your insane story does is make people think all of us are crazy, not just you. So please keep your stupid hurricane rants to yourself and watch the weather channel.
All 3 WTC towers were brought down by controlled demolition. Period.
www.ae911truth.org
No flyovers in order to dispose of bodies.
911truthdotorg - I wish to applaud your highly intellectual response to my comment. No doubt you represent the mainstream "truth movement".
All readers who wish to understand how the "truth movement" is controlled, and how 9/11 was really orchestrated, should read my article:
9/11: Distinguishing The Propaganda From The Smoking Guns
For instance, why did Alaskan magnetometers detect a shift in the earth's magnetic field with every 9/11 "event"?
to CB_Brooklyn:
You are crazy. What a jersey. You are as crazy as theese conspiracy theorists.
It is a proven fact, that the WTC buildings were brought down by controled demolition.
Controlled demolition and Tesla coils. What idiots. Get a more sensible hobby, like Sasquatch hunting.
the name calling (e.g. REASON, GI JOE, 911truthdotorg above) really makes us more suspicious of those slinging the names than the information being provided by the person being attacked....keep attacking the messenger and make yourself look more like "thou doust complain too much dear brutus."
Ideas arent dismissed by calling the person with the idea a name, they are dismissed through reason. You apparently have none or you would have spent your time debunking the idea instead of the person.
I think it's because the federal government doesn't want us to see any oil spills since they have been pushing this "drill here drill now" meme.
To:REASON
My dear fellow America,your one of the many obtuse fools enjoying the American dream--dead asleep.
First of all there were no planes that hit any WTC bldgs and the Pantygone. No high scrapers fall faster than gravity pull and 80% of solid concrete does NOT--turn to dust.It is reported that China diverted the whole WTC steel to india due to high levels of radioactivity.The black clouds and sparks and fireballs were just that--fireworks. WTC7 was brought down by normal tech demo from the bottom down. This was a fast job due to ENRON FBI files court pending had to be destoried. Now you know why BUsh wanted the case dismissed---Wall street scams up on us.
However, WTC1&2 was planned by Billy Goat Clinton thugs,he approved the development of low radiation bunker concrete busting bombs and fopr a new pearl harbour event.Wakie Wackie Americans you been duped by low interest rates--to cover up government kills it's own to acccomodate Israel and the oil companies and too stupid to know you were nuked on Sept 11/01. Let's see how dumb you are--why the Demoos are fearfull of impeaching--Bush/Cheny? If your answer is--DAAAH!,then here it is,Bush can Blackmail them as the terrorists that started it :^)
"JoJo" - please ask the doctors to update your medication level... clearly what you're taking now isn't effective
Why a media blackout of this disaster. Several blogs out there have reported over 1000 bodies hanging in trees and many more washed out to sea. All governments lie.
This is all about censorship. After all, censorship is becoming America's favorite past-time. The US gov't (and their corporate friends), already place protesters in fenced-in cages, ban books like America Deceived (book) from Wikipedia, Amazon and Facebook, and shut down Ron Paul. Free Speech forever.
People, please stay on subject, which involves Galveston. Is there a secret govt. installation exposed by the storm? An oil well spill? Lots of bodies washed up and rotting in the sun? C'mon, think real hard.
Here's a recent news feed from CBS 13 in Texas on the media blackout.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ge0dxJfxsa8
I doubt we'll ever be told the actual number of dead from Katrina. That and the National Guard shortage would cause a public outrage. The same goes for Galveston. After all, there's only one official mention of the Camp Falcon explosion. That's the new so-called reality.
Could it be that images like this might make us rethink the idea of drill, drill, drill?
http://cache.boston.com/universal/site_graphics/blogs/bigpicture/ike_09_15/ike16.jpg
Thanks, Mr.Ed, for the reminder to stay on point. While I don't know about any *secret* gov't installations in Galveston, there is indeed a bio-defense lab on the island. The Dallas Morning News reported that Ike did not inflict any damage, but what the story doesn't mention is that this is actually a BSL (bio-safety level) 4 lab, the highest category. That should definitely raise questions about why it is located in such a high-risk location.
I wrote to CNN, FOX, ABC and asked why they weren't throwing a fit over the media blackout...shouldn't they be screaming about Freedom of the Press. I wrote Salvation Army that their Southwest Territory link for missing persons did not work (as of yesterday)....have not gotten a reply back from anyone. I wrote the reporter asking if he had heard anymore on the blackout as to why or when they would be allowed in....nothing back from him either. Can anyone say Illuminati coverup?
Forgot to mention that I had also asked the news media why they weren't scrolling 800 numbers at the bottom of their screens for people to try to locate the missing...no answer.
What I thought was interesting about Dolcefino's questioning of Gov. Rick Perry was how Perry was trying hard not to say that he, as Texas governor, has had no authority in the stricken areas along the Texas coast, whether on the ground or in the air, since a state of emergency was declared over Hurricane Ike.
He first said local officials were in charge, which was false. Then he said the state government wasn't, that is, him being governor, which is true. Then he admitted that the federal government (DHS, FEMA, etc.) was in charge, but then mentioned something about "special issues" or circumstances.
So, does anyone remember the law that the Republican-controlled Congress passed two years ago that strips governors of their control over their state's security, their national guard units, their state's soil and air space, in case an emergency is declared, and defined, by whomever is in the White House?
Do you remember why the Bush administration wanted this law passed? (Something about Gov. Blanco of Louisiana repeatedly refusing demands that she turn over her state's security and national guard units to the Bush administration during Hurricane Katrina).
And do you remember that all fifty state governors vehemently protested this blatant intrusion into their authority as governors, with both Republican and Democratic governors being against this law?
I believe this is why Gov. Rick Perry stumbled the other day in answering Dolcefino. Perry really isn't governor of Texas, at least while Hurricane Ike's state of emergency is in effect along the Texas coast. Perry can't tell Texas National Guard units where to deploy and whom to help. He lost that authority. DHS (Chertoff), and to a lesser extent, FEMA now call all the shots. Perry is out of the command loop. For the time being, Perry is just a figurehead who has no say at all in what's happening along the Texas coast.
And if you think about it, this law passed two years ago, by it's usurping of the authority of state governors, means that George W. Bush is once again Governor of Texas, at least during the duration of this state of emergency, as declared and defined by him. (Hmmm, just think if a national state of emergency is declared by whomever is in the White House, let's say after another 9/11-like attack. This Republican-sponsored law would effectively make the President the governor of all fifty states, making it possible to shelve all of our state's governors, bypassing their authority and their state constitutions completely....which, no doubt, is what the Republicans had in mind who pushed for this law's passage).
I'm sure we will all see a much rosier world once reporters are embedded domestically with the police and national guard.
Does sort of blur the distinction between COPS and the local news though.
Umm 2 years ago Congress was in Democratic Control (as it is today).
And if you had any understanding over the Historical context for the passing of that law you would know that the reason it was passed was two fold.
1. The Dem Gov of La. refused to take responsibility for her inactions during and after Katrina and persisted on blaming the Feds (who by law should not have had anything to do with it). Thus with the MSM help creating this image that the Feds (Bush admin) refused to help and just let people die. It was a huge Dem political CYA to save face and office.
2. Because of what happened in #1 the administration said :Fine if you want the Fed Gov't to help in these situations, then you have to pass a law that says I can.". And the public outcry and Congressional outcry for this was huge (read pandering here) that no matter what constitutionalists like myself and others said, or those governors complained about this law was fast-tracked through.
So think of it in these terms:
Bush is like Pilot the Governor of Jerusalem asking the city what they want while even commenting what they are asking for is not right..but the crowd ignores him in their ignorance and well you know the rest.