Broadcasters should make a voluntary practice of carrying emergen...
Broadcasters should make a voluntary practice of carrying emergency alert system warnings in more languages than English when bad weather knocks out foreign-language stations in their markets, a proponent of that approach said Monday at the EAS Summit. Minority…
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Media and Telecommunications Council Executive Director David Honig said he’s aware the industry is concerned the FCC may impose such a plan on broadcasters. “Hopefully that wouldn’t be necessary, but it would be up to you,” he told the conference in Washington, D.C., according to prepared remarks. “If broadcasters in a community arrive voluntarily at a reasonable [multilingual EAS plan], the FCC could certify it and the plan would take effect.” It’s been three years since 300,000 New Orleanians who speak Spanish and Vietnamese got little advance warning of Hurricane Katrina for lack of a multilingual alert plan, Honig said. “Six rounds of pleadings later, the FCC still doesn’t have a multilingual EAS program, and only one state broadcasting association -- Florida’s -- has come most of the way toward designating a modern” system. Participants in FCC-brokered talks on the alerts voice optimism of a deal being reached and reflected in an order the FCC plans to issue on the subject in the next few months (CD Nov 7 p4).