FEMA's People Posed as Reporters

I know I'm a cynic, but how bad is it getting when this sort of crap no longer surprises me? Is anything on the level any more?

[Excerpt]

FEMA Staffers Posed As Reporters at Press Briefing

It appears the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has found the answer to nosy reporters in the two years since Hurricane Katrina: have a press conference and have your own people ask the questions. [snip]

Kamen later states: "the questions were asked by FEMA staffers playing reporters. We're told the questions were asked by Cindy Taylor, FEMA's deputy director of external affairs, and by 'Mike' Widomski, the deputy director of public affairs. Director of External Affairs John 'Pat' Philbin asked a question, and another came, we understand, from someone who sounds like press aide Ali Kirin."FEMA officials told Kamen that their people did not make up the questions and Johnson did not know what was to be asked. . .

Read the story at: Editor & Publisher