Galveston Officials Restrict Media Access After Ike

By: Joe Strupp The Galveston County (Texas) Daily News, which has seen delivery delays, Web site disruptions, and even the loss of its roof from Hurricane Ike, reports that city officials have now directed city employees not to speak to the press.

In a story late Monday, the paper reports that Mayor Lyda Ann Thomas "ordered all city employees not to talk to news reporters. She did not say when that order would be lifted."

Thomas and City Manager Steve LeBlanc, the paper added, would be the only city officials authorized to speak with reporters.

"City spokeswoman Mary Jo Naschke vehemently denied the city was trying to clamp down on news coverage," the paper said.

Calls to the paper were again met with a busy signal this morning, while access to the Web site had been unattainable. Editors have said that while delivery of the paper (which has been printed every day, they say) has been spotty, reporters remain on the job covering the storm aftermath.

Still, the paper reports that the media restrictions are adding to difficulties: "At a noon press conference on Monday, Thomas and LeBlanc talked for less than 30 minutes and refused to answer any more than five questions. Thomas said she would try to hold another press conference Tuesday.

"Daily News reporters who tried to speak to city employees at rescue sites were denied information and told no one was authorized to talk to them except for the mayor and city manager," the paper reported.

"It's the worst thing the city could do. Those who will suffer most are evacuees," Publisher Dolph Tillotson said in the story. "The media will have to turn to other sources that might be less reliable. I can't imagine a dumber move under these extreme circumstances."

Prior to a press conference Monday, LeBlanc reportedly asked reporters if he could speak off the record. "Some television crews agreed and turned
their cameras off," the paper stated. "LeBlanc then asked news crews to urge their bosses and managers to show more coverage of the island on television because evacuees didn't care about what was happening in Houston."

The Daily News also stated that "all reporters who were staying at the city's emergency operations center, stationed at the San Luis Hotel, were asked to leave Monday. San Luis Hotel owner Tilman Fertitta was housing reporters at the nearby Hilton Hotel, which he also owns."