[EAS] [] Daisy Chain

[Rod Simon]

Adrienne

I was just about ready to blast you for a previous comment about showing up at a command post but you redeemed yourself with this post.  Media belongs in the JIC not the JOC and if you don't know what those are take the class Adrienne recommended.

Having worked in disaster response and do consulting for emergency management agencies,  for longer than I've been involved in broadcasting I have a different viewpoint. I would believe that  most broadcasters including many that serve on state or local EAS committees don't have a clue about emergency management. In fact from some of the postings on several boards the broadcasters attitude is we have EAS and we are God bow down to us.

The fact is the media can be one of the best tools emergency managers have, However I was surprised in a PIO class i took many EM don't trust the media. The general feeling is the media generally wont follow your guidelines will be places they shouldn't be and the end of the day throw you under the bus or stab you in the back.

I was a responder to a plane crash in what would be considered a rural airport where 14 people died in a plane crash. The local media had good relations with the officials and were sensitive to people they interviewed, then the national media showed up and started what may be best described as bullying if not  coming close to harassment of not only the local officials but first responders and family members of the decided seeking in back doors and secure areas where they should not of been. The local media knowing the importance of a working relationship stepped in and set the ground rules of how all media would act. There were stories that one local TV cameraman caught someone taking 35MM pictures when a no cameras request was made (i believe it was during  a media tour of the makeshift morgue) the local cameraman simply took the camera away and destroyed the film.

I say all that to say it takes time to build relationships and trust and one bad experience can have a long lasting effect.

One way I can think of is if you live in an area that the county's EM has a license to broadcast on a frequency that is monitored by the LP's is to donate your old EAS units (if you still have them) to them, then take the next step and offer to set it up for them. They then have the ability to originate any messages they are authorize to do.  They may never use it but that's how you build relationships.

Rod Simon

PS if you have a sage unit your looking to get rid of I could use one for a back-up EOC for a county i do some work for.
________________________________________
From: eas-bounces at radiolists.net [eas-bounces at radiolists.net] On Behalf Of Adrienne  Abbott [nevadaeas at charter.net]

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Redgy--
You've (obviously) got multiple issues...under the Incident Command System
Command Posts--where the Public Information Officer is stationed--are
supposed to be accessible to the media. If there's no PIO, the Incident
Commander is supposed to act as the PIO. Most IC's are too busy to do that
so they usually designate a PIO who is responsible for dealing with the
media in person, over the phone or via the Internet. That's all spelled out
in the Incident Command System rules of operation. Information on the
Incident Command System is available on the Internet at FEMA's website. You
can take classes in ICS online, for free, under Independent Study. If
nothing else, you learn the language that the emergency managers use.

If all media, radio, television and print, are getting the same treatment,
it might be time to gather everyone, reporters and station managers and plan
some way to approach your local and or state emergency officials. There's no
rule book that says they have to use EAS. It's just one way they have to
communicate in an emergency. If they think cell phone calls are working for
them, fine. Someday they'll have a problem and the system will be
overwhelmed with calls, or as someone else has said, towers will melt or
trunk lines will be cut. But if they are going beyond that, not only not
using EAS but not providing any emergency information at all, to the point
where people are calling your station and other stations to find out what's
going on and you and the other stations have no official information to give
the callers, then you have a bigger problem than a lack of respect for EAS.
With no official word, the public is in danger and if someone gets hurt or
killed, those same officials will be very quick to blame the media and
you'll end up working it out in court.

If the local government feels they lack the resources to develop an
emergency communications structure, then offer to help. There are
organizations such as "Citizen Corps" or "Community Emergency Response
Teams"-CERT's, that can be developed to help in disasters. These teams can
even include PIO's to respond to the media and call-takers to help with the
phones. This is how some communities with limited resources do it but it
does take leadership and follow-up. And many times local ham radio clubs are
key components to the communications structure in these committees.

Do local officials conduct a de-briefing, critique or "hot wash" after
emergencies to determine how things went, what worked and what needs
improvement? Do they conduct local events, holiday festivals, parades,
street celebrations and such as a training program for emergencies? The
media should be at those events as well as any state-sponsored reviews of
major disasters to bring attention to the lack of official information.

Those officials kind of have you over a barrel, but you aren't totally
helpless especially if the other stations are willing to work together to
fix the problem. Then if one of you runs into a problem with a city agency,
you can all respond. City officials can be very responsive at election time.

Adrienne Abbott
Nevada EAS Chair
"Radio burps, it cries, it needs to be fed all the time, it requires
constant attention, but we love it." Jim Aaron WGLN

-----Original Message-----
From: eas-bounces at radiolists.net [mailto:eas-bounces at radiolists.net] On
Behalf Of Reginald Swedberg

>From what I am aware of, everyone is treated the same.  Showing up in
person doesn't seem to get anywhere either, but a talking to of why they
can't do that.  They may not even tell you where the command post is, or it
is restricted so you can not get to it.

Redgy