MEDIA COUNCIL IS TOLD TO PLAN FOR ALL EVENTUALITIES IN CRISIS

The task force reports were preliminary, and the work will continue into 2004, MSRC officials said. The 41-member council of leaders in broadcast, cable and satellite industries will vote on a set of best practices by June 18. FCC Chmn. Powell told the group the reception of accurate urgent information was “truly a life-saving service that warrants our utmost attention and support.” He said a more “coordinated effort” was needed and hoped media companies would “put aside competitive differences to commit itself to the public good… ensuring the safety and well-being of our citizens.”

“We simply have to communicate in a timely and accurate fashion,” said Dennis FitzSimons of Tribune Co., MSRC chmn.: “The public depends on us and we must come through.” He said that sharing best practices was a “brand new strategic process for the federal government… now we don’t have to worry about collecting information, just analyzing it.” Ridge also said a virtual news network set up by DHS to track its response to recent crises in Chicago and Seattle allowed the dept. to see how their activity was projected and how people responded to it, showing how critical information distribution was to homeland security.

The Communications Infrastructure Security Working Group presented interim reports charting the progress of its 3 task forces. Harris Bcst. CEO Bruce Allan said the task force on prevention of damage to the media infrastructure in a crisis had received an “encouraging response” from its industrial surveys distributed through trade associations involving broadcast and cable TV, radio, DBS and satellite radio. The task force recommended that media companies’ vulnerability assessments include the possibility of deliberate attacks in addition to natural disasters and that system redundancies and their geographic distribution be considered as response elements in the assessments. News networks should consider backup carriage plans with nonnews networks in emergency conditions to provide “cost-effective additional geographic diversity,” it said. Allan also suggested local media have disaster recovery plans that could include extra emphasis on radio in case of power outages.

Digital technology was recommended to replace the current Emergency Alert System (EAS) by the task force on future technologies that could improve the transmission of emergency information. That task force is ahead of schedule, Allan said. It suggested a govt.-coordinated development of a Media Common Alert Protocol (MCAP) that would deliver emergency messages via digital networks that could be received by all digital receivers and was optimized for point-to-multipoint networks and devices only. Allan said MCAP was an important first step that “gives everyone a setup before the digital universe is up and running.” He said MCAP must address national, regional and local events, support variable and changing bit rates, easy transport within existing digital media systems and be able automatically to prioritize emergencies based on alert levels. Allan said it was important to display such information in non-English languages and to the hearing and seeing impaired.

The Public Communications & Safety Group, chaired by John Eck, pres., NBC Bcst. Network Operations, suggested the federal govt. coordinate emergency information. He said a single federal entity should take responsibility for the production of a “national, uniform, all-hazard communication warning process” that “should come out of the Department of Homeland Security, but we didn’t just want to come out and say that.” Eck also said the best way to use all available resources and mass media systems would be through a partnership of the public and private sectors, a “joint planning to understand how each piece of the quilt fit in crises and how they can be utilized to save lives.” Cooperation of local and state governments in creating and executing emergency communications procedures also should be encouraged, the group said. Eck cited Tex. and Fla. as models that could be leveraged nationally. Local media should form cooperatives to deliver and amplify govt. emergency messages quickly and accurately to all constituencies, with local markets sharing their best practices as well, Eck said. He said new technology was another key to expediting emergency information transmission, and recommended accelerated research into alternative, redundant and supplemental means of communication, and that the EAS be tested, upgraded when necessary and implemented with the latest EAS codes. Eck said the EAS “is used effectively, but not uniformly across the country, and its capabilities should be reviewed.”

Cost and federal involvement are crucial factors of concern the MSRC members and on their decision to vote on emergency information communication recommendations, they indicated. Joseph Wright of PanAmSat said if the DHS agreed to contribute on the federal level, “we [council members] would also be happy to play a role.” Ridge reassured the council, saying he “wants to work together closely in the future,” and that a plan written by the DHS showing media heads what was needed of them would come shortly. Ridge also announced the production of 2 TV commercials advertising his Ready campaign for preparation for a terrorist attack, and showed one with his presentation.