Broadcasters Left Hispanics in the Dark During Katrina
The FCC should require broadcasters to provide emergency announcements in multiple languages in markets that include large numbers of people whose main language isn’t English, the Minority Media & Telecom Council (MMTC) told the Commission in a petition. MMTC asked the FCC, in its emergency alert system rulemaking, to require vital information be made available to non-English people. After Hurricane Katrina and as Hurricane Rita nears Florida, this material should be available now, said MMTC Exec. Dir. David Honig.
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KGLA(AM), Gretna, La., sole Spanish-language station in the New Orleans area, was off the air 7 days, leaving more than 150,000 Spanish-speaking listeners in the area without a source of critical information, MMTC said. Only a few of some 42,000 Latinos in Miss. received leaflets in Spanish about Katrina, and after the storm announcements on seeking help in Miss. were broadcast only in English. Spanish-language emergency broadcasters could have prevented tragedies like one that struck a New Orleans family, MMTC said, citing a KGLA report of Latin family returning home and finding their residence without electricity. Someone lit a match, igniting leaked gas that exploded, destroying the house and killing the family. “The need for timely action in response to Katrina was painfully evident in the days following the storm,” MMTC said. NAB didn’t have immediate comment.
MMTC, along with the Spanish Bcstrs. Assn. and the United Church of Christ Office of Communications, seek the EAS rules revised immediately to allow multilingual broadcast of local, state and national emergency information. In Aug 2004, the FCC released a notice of proposed rulemaking seeking comment on whether the EAS is the most effective way to warn the public of an emergency and how to improve it. The proceeding could be on the FCC agenda meeting on Oct. 12, sources said.
MMTC suggested that in each market the FCC designate a local primary Spanish station to at least monitor and rebroadcast emergency information in Spanish.