The city of Galveston made its first serious misstep in handling the Hurricane Ike crisis, but it’s a big enough mistake that it almost outweighs the many good things city leaders have done.
The misstep was clamping down on the flow of information out of Galveston Island. Now, by order of Mayor Lyda Ann Thomas, the only city officials who may speak to the media are Thomas herself and City Manager Steve LeBlanc.
So, reporters who had been getting solid information from the police and firemen, from the police chief and fire chief and other city department heads no longer may do so.
Meanwhile, if Monday is any indication, Mayor Thomas and LeBlanc plan press conferences that are few in number, brief in duration and at which they answer few questions. Monday’s noon press conference lasted about half an hour, and the pair answered only five questions.
Why is this bad?
First, it castrates rather than empowers department heads who should be treated with more respect. Chief Charles Wiley of the city police department, for example, certainly is smart enough and wise enough to handle media questions. To silence him and other trusted department heads is stupid and degrading to trusted city leaders.
Second, the move will force reporters to go to other sources, and some of those may be less reliable and less knowledgeable than official city sources. Why the city would wish this to happen is beyond us. It will make the news media’s job more difficult, and it will make the information somewhat less reliable.
Last and most important, one of the major issues facing the city and facing the media trying to tell this story is the many thousands of evacuees spread across North America. They desperately seek information about their homes, their businesses and their loved ones.
A news blackout will cause those people, helpless evacuees, to suffer longer. Not knowing the full story is the worst pain they face, and the city has helped prolong and make that pain greater by blocking access to news.
The city has done some things very well. Debris has been cleared from most primary roads — almost amazingly so. The city is doing a phenomenal job of cleaning up. Police and fire employees have performed tirelessly and courageously, and they deserve thanks and praise.
But blacking out news at this time of extreme public anxiety is incredibly bone-headed.
Mayor Lyda Ann Thomas and City Manager Steve Le Blanc must re-think this disastrously bad decision.
Dolph Tillotson is president and publisher of The Daily News.
