Mums to the media
- Reuters: “The U.S. agency leading Hurricane Katrina rescue efforts said Tuesday that it does not want the news media to photograph the dead as they are recovered.“
- Bob Brigham: “We are in Jefferson Parish, just outside of New Orleans. At the National Guard checkpoint, they are under orders to turn away all media. All of the reporters are turning they’re TV trucks around.“
- Salt Lake Tribune: “‘[FEMA has] people here who are search-and-rescue certified, paramedics, haz-mat certified,’ said a Texas firefighter. ‘We’re sitting in here having a sexual-harassment class while there are still [victims] in Louisiana who haven’t been contacted yet.’ The firefighter, who has encouraged his superiors back home not to send any more volunteers for now, declined to give his name because FEMA has warned them not to talk to reporters.“
- Brian Williams, NBC News: “While we were attempting to take pictures of the National Guard (a unit from Oklahoma) taking up positions outside a Brooks Brothers on the edge of the Quarter, the sergeant ordered us to the other side of the boulevard. The short version is: there won’t be any pictures of this particular group of guard soldiers on our newscast tonight.”
If Kevin will offer no commentary… I will.