FEMA Communications Fall Guy Speaks Out about Fake News Conference
January 10, 2008 by Eric Eggertson
Filed under Marketing
Ouch. A few days before he was set to leave his job at FEMA, Pat Philbin found himself at the centre of the fake news conference controversy.
As he explains to Kami Huyse on her blog (audio on FIR Interviews), he accepted responsibility to a few reporters because he was the one ultimately responsible for the actions of people in his department.
When the media storm began, Philbin told the Washington Post:
"I didn’t orchestrate this, this is not how I do business. I would not condone or authorize it, but at the end of the day, I was the guy in charge and I regret that it happened."
What he wasn’t expecting were the hundreds of blogs posts and news reports pinning all the blame on him. Of the journalists and others who wrote about the incident, only three talked directly to Philbin to get his explanation.
The story makes a great read, both as a cautionary tale and as confirmation that once an organization comes under fire (Hurricane Katrina), almost everything it does is viewed skeptically.
(My contribution to the blogstorm.)
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If you have a minute, help spread the word about Kami’s post. We are quick to share disaster stories, but too often the follow-up story that provides a more balanced view gets buried. A few ways to do this are to forward the link to friends, give it a vote on Digg, or give it a thumbs up on StumbleUpon.
Tags: fema, pat philbin, kami huyse, fake news conference, hurricane katrina, washington post, blogstorm, mediastorm, firestorm, fall guy, communications
Thanks for spreading the word. In truth, I also piled on at the time, not on him personally, but certainly on FEMA. But Pat really does deserve a listen, not only for the correction of the record, but also for what communicators can learn from him about dealing with a personal crisis.
Thanks, Eric, for following up and pointing out that corrections and clarifications to news stories too often get buried deep inside the publication…or never brought to light. It’s frustrating to me as a journalist that sensationalism, whether true or false, makes the front page, but something that clarifies hardly ever gets seen. Kami Huyse and you are to be commended for trying to right a wrong.
I don’t know whether to cry at John Philbin’s being thrown to the wolves or to laugh hysterically at the idea that the Bush administration was over the lie.