What if you gave a press conference and nobody came?
Answer: carry on as if they did and have your own people pose questions to you.
That’s what FEMA did back on October 23rd. Having informed the media of a briefing on the California wildfires 15 minutes before it was to start, it’s not surprising that no one turned up.
A couple of reporters listened in on the 800 number (listen only - no questions). One of them, a Washington Post reporter, began to notice that the questions apparently being posed by reporters to Deputy Administrator Vice Adm. Harvey E. Johnson were not very probing. Turned out, it was FEMA staff members calling out the questions as if they were reporters.
Here’s what it looked like, as carried live by Fox News:
FEMA’s deputy director of public affairs defended the botched news conference by saying that the questions were ones that reporters had been asking earlier in the day and that Johnson did not know what he was going to be asked. So that’s ok then… hmmmm.
The two most obvious courses of action would have been to reschedule the briefing or read a statement. To pretend that the media is asking questions is to give the impression that some scrutiny is going on.
Posted: October 30th, 2007 under Bad Live Interviews, Crisis Management, Political Tips, Press Conferences, Video Studio Interviews.