America's Investigative Reports (AIR) on PBS lat night, RE: FEMA

[babylonsister]

Did anyone see this and is this a new program? I thought it was very well done and it taught me a few things. I recommend you check it out!

The program focused on the investigative journalism that was done at the South Florida Sun Sentinel newspaper, specifically Hurricane Frances during Labor Day 2004 (11 months before Katrina).

Did you know Michael Brown was head of FEMA then? One of the reporters described him as slick, an ultra-bureaucrat with lots of spinning ability.

Did you know that loads of people filed for hurricane relief in Miami when the hurricane didn't even hit there? Yes, some poor people did, but lots of rich people filed, too.

Did you know that Miami got tons of money from FEMA for future hurricane preparedness as a result of the relief that was supposed to be needed?

The 'authorities' claimed 300 people died in Miami during Hurricane Frances, but failed to mention they were also counting people who died of natural causes. More money from FEMA.

Finally, the same 'authorities' claimed the hurricane did indeed hit Miami, and suggested they got their info from NOAA. The only problem with that is, NOAA was checked and there wasn't a hurricane in Miami. So the 'authorities' assumed no one would check?

Finally, how come last night was the first time I've ever heard of this? The Sun Sentinel did a great investigative piece of work, and the media failed to follow through on reporting it. What a surprise.


http://www.pbs.org/wnet/air/episodes_101.html

Episode 101
Crisis Mismanagement

Well before Hurricane Katrina made its deadly landfall in August 2005, any journalist who had reported on New Orleans' storm-readiness knew the city was ripe for calamity. But no one could have predicted that the Federal Emergency Management Agency's response to Katrina would so compound the winds and flooding that it would quickly come to be considered a national disaster in and of itself.

No one, that is, except a team of reporters from the SOUTH FLORIDA SUN-SENTINEL

Beginning in October 2004, these investigators from the Fort Lauderdale newspaper spent more than a year documenting and reporting on problems with FEMA in a series called "FEMA: A Legacy of Waste." It was the story of their lives, one that would be short-listed for a Pulitzer Prize. And it alerted readers to the fact that the federal government was unlikely to be ready for "the Big One."

In its 15-month investigation, the Sun-Sentinel revealed that between 1999 and 2004 FEMA awarded more than $530 million in disaster aid to applicants across the U.S. who had suffered little or no hardship. The four-person team of reporters, working with the paper's investigations editor, detailed how tax money bought furniture and appliances for citizens in areas untouched by hurricanes, fires, floods or tornados. The SUN-SENTINEL also revealed how FEMA inspectors received little training and that some of the inspectors hired by FEMA had criminal records. The investigation led to indictments, a U.S. Senate hearing, a federal audit, and changes in the way FEMA processes claims. The paper even called in an editorial for the resignation of then-FEMA director Michael Brown, long before "Brownie, you're doing a heckuva job" became an ironic national punch line.

AIR traces the journalists' work in reporting this riveting story as they learned more and more about how ineptly the agency functioned. Viewers will learn how Brown paid the SUN-SENTINEL reporters a visit after the first story ran to deny that there were problems at the agency; how the newspaper had to sue FEMA to obtain thousands of records which showed the problems were even worse than imagined; and how a local investigation would presage a national disaster in the making.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

1. Thanks for the find! n/t

[babylonsister]

2. OK, I was the only one who watched this? nt