Homeland Security Will Embed Reporters

by John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 4/27/2006 9:50:00 AM

Reporters will be embedded with the government during natural disasters, according to a plan outlined by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff at the Radio-Television News Directors Association convention in Las Vegas.

Chertoff said that it is not a battleground so "we're not going to be censoring information."  But he also said that he doesn't want "interference with our physical operations," according to RTNDA.

The administration came in for some heavy criticism from the media during its handling, or arguably mishandling, of the Katrina Hurricane crisis. Often, reporters seemed to know more about what was happening on the ground than the administration did, which led to some high-profile frustration from the journalists, most notably CNN's Anderson Cooper.