Multilingual-Alert Talks Seen Getting Commissioner Okay
Broadcasters and advocates for U.S. inhabitants who don’t speak English are likely to get more time from the FCC to work out a way to send emergency alerts and information in multiple languages, said industry and agency officials. In June both sides asked the FCC to put off a promised order on the alerts while they start an alert test and continue talks begun more than a year ago. Last year, commissioners delayed action on a Minority Media and Telecommunications Council request that they order broadcasters to provide emergency information in varied languages if non-English language broadcasters stop transmitting. Commissioners were prepared to issue an order in six months, during which time the council, its allies and broadcasters were to devise a solution (CD July 13 p5). That period ended June 17, six months after the order ran in the Federal Register, but the FCC faces no statutory deadline to act, said a commission spokesman.
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No further order is circulating for a vote, said an agency spokesman. The FCC may grant the participants’ request and put off an order until year-end, he said. Other agency officials said commissioners seem to support a delay while broadcasters and activists talk and test. If they appear to be making progress, commissioners seem inclined to hold off issuing regulations during that time, another official said.
A new order on multilingual alerts may not be needed, as the 2007 order encouraged industry and activists to make a deal, the commission spokesman said. “We are pleased to see that community leaders and broadcasters have reached an agreement in principle” and “look forward to working with all interested parties,” he said. The FCC doesn’t have to issue a proclamation to extend the time for industry-activist talks because the six-month period didn’t create a deadline for commission action, he said. The FCC may issue an order on Common Alerting Protocol for emergency alerts once the Federal Emergency Management Agency completes work on it, he added.
One reason the FCC may have delayed action is awareness that the agency has limited authority over what information it can require broadcasters to issue in emergencies, said Florida Association of Broadcasters President Pat Roberts. “Now they know a voluntary program is the only way it’s going to work,” said Roberts, a participant in the industry- activist talks. “A working agreement and a lovefest is better than trying to force stuff.”
A test starting Aug. 1 by radio stations in 20 hurricane-prone markets will bring multilingual emergency broadcasts, a council filing said June 5. The trial, to end Oct. 31, also will examine “the practicability of deploying a portable, temporary radio station on the frequency of a multilingual station that has been taken off the air during an emergency,” the filing said. The test resembles the so- called designated hitter plan the council asked the FCC to impose in 2005. In it, broadcasters would cover for non- English language stations knocked off the air, said David Honig, the group’s executive director. “For three years the parties have just been filing paper at each other and the commission,” he said. “This test is what is going to get people talking to each other to figure out what’s the minimum the agency should do so multilingual communities are assured of the same information service as other Americans are accustomed to enjoying in an emergency.”
Test participants’ first meeting likely will be attended by officials from FEMA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Roberts said. He’s helping organize the July 17 Orlando meeting. The FCC spokesman said officials of the Public Safety and Media bureaus will attend the Orlando meeting. Honig said he and the broadcasters hope by early December to submit an evaluation of the trial to the FCC to frame the agency’s order. The trial should help broadcasters gauge the cost of providing material in Spanish and other languages in emergencies, he said. The broadcasters and activists may ask Congress to help cover the costs, said Honig. They may also ask Congress to give FEMA money for portable radio stations, said Roberts. Before estimating costs, “the first step will be to analyze the results of the 20 test markets,” an NAB spokesman said. “Assuming that the trial tests are successful, we will then decide whether to seek government support for a fiscally responsible plan to take this program into more markets across the country.”
Commissioners seemed supportive of the plan, Honig said. “All of them were very happy that we had reached this plateau and that everyone is working together and that we're going to be doing this test,” he said. The council had accused broadcasters of dragging their feet, he said, but “all is forgiven. Let’s move. The point is they're doing it, and they're doing it based on the designated hitter model.”