CNN, other news outlets ignored Brown's false claim about Blanco's state of emergency request
On the September 27 editions of CNN's Anderson Cooper 360 and NewsNight with Aaron Brown, anchor Anderson Cooper billed a report on former Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) director Michael D. Brown's congressional testimony as an effort to "check what he said against the facts." In the segment that followed, however, CNN congressional correspondent Ed Henry simply reported on the "war of words" between Brown and members of the House committee investigating the handling of the Hurricane Katrina disaster by local, state, and federal government agencies. Despite Cooper's introduction, Henry did not offer viewers the facts surrounding the Katrina response, nor did he discuss the veracity of Brown's statements. He merely noted that Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco (D), in a "blistering" response, had described Brown as "either out of touch with the truth or reality." But if Henry had actually fact-checked Brown's testimony, he would have identified as clearly false Brown's claim that Blanco excluded several parishes from her federal emergency assistance request.
Under questioning from Rep. Steve Buyer (R-IN) during the September 27 House hearing, Brown claimed that President Bush's August 27 declaration of emergency for Louisiana did not include Orleans, Jefferson, and Plaquemines parishes because Blanco had excluded them from her request earlier that day:
BUYER: So I'd like to know why did the president's federal emergency assistance declaration of August 27th not include the parishes of Orleans, Jefferson, and Plaquemines?
BROWN: Under the law, the governor makes the request for the declaration, and the governors of the states specify what areas, what counties they want included in that declaration. And, based upon the governor's request, that's the recommendation that we make to the president. So if a governor does not request a particular county or a particular parish, that's not included in the request.
BUYER: All right. Orleans Parish is New Orleans. I was listening to my colleague, Mr. [Rep. William J.] Jefferson's [D-LA], questions about when they talked about, you know, they asked for this assistance for three days and the president responded the very next day, not the day that it was made -- the request -- but the governor of Louisiana actually excluded New Orleans from the president's federal emergency assistance declaration?
BROWN: Again, congressman, we looked at the request. The governors make the request by --
BUYER: Let me ask this: Since you went through the exercise in [Hurricane] Pam [a FEMA training exercise], was that not shocking to you that the governor would exclude New Orleans from the declaration?
BROWN: Yes.
BUYER: When that request came in excluding these three parishes, did you question it?
BROWN: We questioned it. But I made the decision that we were going to go ahead and move assets in regardless, because we have the ability to add those parishes.
In fact, Blanco requested a federal declaration of emergency "in all southeastern parishes," which clearly included the three parishes in question, as the weblog Think Progress has noted. Despite Brown's assertion that Blanco was to blame for this oversight, the FEMA officials who drafted the federal declaration on August 27, which included a list of the parishes to which it applied, apparently were responsible for the omission -- a broad swath of parishes in the southern part of the state was omitted. The declaration was then amended on August 29 to include the missing parishes.
Henry was not the only journalist to highlight Blanco's criticism of Brown's testimony without noting Brown's false allegation regarding her emergency declaration request. Reports featured on the September 27 edition of CNN's Lou Dobbs Tonight and the September 28 edition of CNN's Daybreak also ignored Brown's false claim, as did segments on the September 27 editions of Fox News' The Big Story with John Gibson and Special Report with Brit Hume. The Associated Press also overlooked this aspect of Brown's testimony, as did numerous newspapers, including the Los Angeles Times, USA Today, The Dallas Morning News, and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
this is a problem with too much of "reporting". there is no checking of the actual facts, just repeating one-line comments. and there is no excuse for it happening on shows that actually have the time to look at issues in depth.
Seems clear to me that this guy lied under oath. Where are all those "rule of law" Republicans who were so eager to crucify Clinton for the same thing?
I recently sent this out to the major networks:
How much more obvious can it be that the media is not pandering to the liberal left? How can they be when the news reported seems to protect the conservative right? The media appears hesitant to ask hard questions or report on topics that might encourage the “average Joe” to take real look at our present leaders. We the people have the right to hold all political and government leaders accountable for their actions. We are obligated to ask questions and expect the media to do the same. Over the last few days I have been watching numerous news sources and am asking myself questions. These same questions once again seem to be glossed over by the media. Why was no one in the media commenting on the fact that “Brownie” is still getting paid by tax payer’s dollars? Do you think that as he sat there and committed perjury without Americans noticing? The governor of Louisiana had documents on her website that supported her statements regarding when she asked for FEMA help and when a state of emergency was first called. Because she is a democrat, does she have no credibility? Even a moderate can see this as a slap in the face. Not accurately reported on by the major media! Media outlets covered Cindy Sheehan's arrest, during the anti war protest at the White House, without mentioning that the crowd surpassed 100,000 people. While the 400 pro war protesters were covered, no panoramic views, of the multitudes of antiwar protestors, were pointed out. What prohibits accurate reporting here? I had a family member present for this event. Not accurately reported on by the major media! While the Democratic Party remains weak, ineffective and spineless, the Republicans appear to be corrupt, unethical liars. The American people are the losers here. Is the media so entrenched in dirty politics themselves that reporters are afraid to stand up and question the status quo for fear of their own jobs? Or is the media so controlled by corporate influence, that the only cream rising to the top, are the unethical themselves. Why is the media allowing anyone with a dissenting voice to be vilified? That is where I see the slant. That is what disallows many to believe that the bias is toward the left. Have you bought into the package, that to ask questions is unpatriotic? Does it really matter what political side you are on? O.K. boys and girls, grow some “ba*ls”. We want the truth! Not right or left! We want the news media of our parents!.
I caught this segment the other night while looking for the Commedy Central channel. When they introduced it before the commercial and said they'd check Browns testimony "against the facts" I thought it would be worth watching. I was completely disappointed, as they didn't do ANY fact checking. I think the FCC should fine them for false advertising or something.
Here are more links about the parishes excluded from the documents. Based on all the possibilities, there are other explanations for what this all means.