Be A Journalist for Halloween FEMA Style.

The man who staged a fake Federal Emergency Management Agency news conference has lost a chance to be National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell’s top public information officer.

In letters sent over the weekend, FEMA administrator R. David Paulison scolded the public affairs staff involved in the incident. Homeland Security Department spokesman Russ Knocke said yesterday there may be more disciplinary action yet. Knocke has been transferred temporarily to the FEMA press shop.

John P. “Pat” Philbin, FEMA’s external affairs director, who had been scheduled to move into the new job at the director of national intelligence office yesterday, will not be getting it. The staged question-and-answer session was harshly criticized by both the White House and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, whose department oversees FEMA.

What I found most disturbing about this fake news conference was that the FEMA staffers apparently did not feel there was anything wrong in putting on this production. As they saw it, the reporters were simply actors in an elaborate play and who cares if the understudies filled in for one presser. It displayed a distinct misunderstanding of the role of journalists. If these government workers had any sense that the press was there to hold them accountable they would never have felt comfortable stepping into their shoes for even a second. The real question is: Who is responsible for the press’ loss of credibility? If journalists have made it seem that their role at such press conferences is not a combative one, maybe it’s not hard to imagine why FEMA thought it would be so easy to mimic them.