[EAS] This just in: NCTA has asked FEMA to "postpone" the national test

[Richard_Rudman]

With all due respect to our cable colleagues, what appears to be happening is that the general public may have to wait a long, long time for real improvements to the warning process when it comes to radio, television and cable. Coupled with what is in my personal opinion an FCC bias toward warnings propagating over "new media", a pattern is starting to emerge.

Going back to discussions we had in the formative days of the Partnership for Public Warning in late 2001 and early 2002, we decided that the more new warning systems, the better, balanced with the fact that basic broadcasting is and will be the most reliable way to get protective action information to the public when there is major infrastructure impairment. What does that mean? Warnings over radio can get through when power is out and the Internet is down.

So , I hope the FCC will, as Dr. Laura says, "Do the right thing" as the CAP story unfolds. 

Richard

On Nov 1, 2011, at 5:34 PM, Adrienne Abbott wrote:

> I don't understand why a group led by a former FCC commissioner who should
> know better didn't speak up about these issues when the FCC issued their
> Notice of Proposed Rule Making on National Testing.