FEMA tries to fight "false news", as Florence Carolinas says: NPR

FEMA launches a new tool as it begins to weather the now-tropical storm Florence. This is a rumor control web page.

According to Gary Webb, professor and president of emergency and disaster management at the University of Northern Texas, unfounded rumors – what might be called "false news" – have been a problem in recent disasters.

"Disasters create a lot of uncertainty, confusion and anxiety," said Webb. "As a result, rumors can spread."

For example, Webb stated during Hurricane Katrina that "vicious rumors were circulating about violent assaults at the Superdome and the convention center."

Although completely unfounded, he said, they nonetheless "painted a picture of the anarchy and disorder that profoundly shaped the public's perception of the disaster and its victims."

The rise of social media has exacerbated both the capacity and the speed at which rumors spread. Although they can be used to share important – and useful – updates on evacuation routes or shelters and places to eat, they can also be used to obtain erroneous or unhelpful information. . And that's the case with Florence.

For example, sharks.

They have been a recurring hoax, with fake photos on Twitter of sharks swimming on highways covered with water or falling from the sky. The rumor has been so widespread that FEMA's Associate Director, Jeffrey Byard, has been questioned about this at an information meeting this week.

"There are sharks in the [surrounding] water, it's not a rumor, "he said. But, you know, I do not think there's a Sharknado effect or something like that.

"Rumors for rumors do not help things," Byard said. "It's just scrambling a bandwidth that we have to go through … really BS … and it's not necessary."

While the images of swimming sharks are relatively harmless, "rumors can hinder emergency responders or divert attention and limited resources in these difficult times," said Frank Cilluffo, director of the United Nations. McCrary Institute.

Cilluffo says it's hard to evaluate the effectiveness of the webpage because it's still in its infancy, but "it's a positive step in the right direction."

Until now, however, some of the rumors on FEMA's webpage look more like agency press releases, "nearly $ 10 million from the hurricane assistance fund. FEMA to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement ". in fact, "diverted from FEMA's operational budgets for travel, training, public engagement and information technology. The misappropriated amount represents less than 1% of FEMA's annual operating budget. "

NTU Webb said, "Since the rumor control page focuses on broader issues not related to a specific disaster, such as information about the EPA and the FEMA budget, it loses some of its value. value and its potential impact.

President Trump used Twitter this week to send FEMA and Weather Service alerts and in fact retweeted a link to the rumor control site Friday morning.

Yet the president himself was criticized for peddling a conspiracy theory earlier this week saying he did not believe that a study revealing that nearly 3,000 people had died after the passage of Hurricane Maria in Porto Rico.