I find it very interesting that it seems to be so commonly accepted that media is injected by bias, that when it's brought out bold faced that a government agency was trying to bias media in an effort to influence public opinion, the discussion derails to a related incident that has been re-hashed more then a few times here... Seriously looking at all the replies to this thread, I get the "nothing to see here, please move along" feeling.
Then the Homeland Security Department took a different approach and lambasted FEMA for such a deceitful act. Spokeswoman Laura Keehner told reporters, "This is inexcusable and offensive, and stunts like this will not be tolerated or repeated."
If nothing else, the debacle is a clear indication that when it comes to communications and essential standards of conduct, these federal agencies are out of touch with one another, though they work for the same exact team. Or perhaps it was just the planned reaction, taking heat off one agency by having a similar one perform the lashing.
I found this suggestion by the author as erroneous, considering that last month DHS was catching flack for being up front and honest about it's problems in releasing the results of TSA security tests.... nope I don't think it's DHS putting on a show, but an actual difference between agencies. Given that DHS doesn't feel the need to trump up it's public image, and in fact is forthcoming with it's shortfalls, and FEMA feels the need to try and influence the media and by proxy it's public image... I think it points less to conspiracy between different departments in our government and more toward which departments need serious attention. Bottom line, all evidence points to FEMA not getting it's shit together even after Katrina.