[EAS] FCC Seeks Comment on Multilingual EAS

[Ed Czarnecki]

Suzanne and Barry are on point in terms of the of the content of the Notice.
However, also notice the title of the Notice itself - "Comment Requested to
Refresh the Record ..."  Not a notice of inquiry, or a proposed rulemaking,
etc.  I believe the FCC is simply seeking to gather more comments on the
multilingual issue, given there really have only been one or two vocal (and
regular) petitioners on this matter over some time.  Perhaps its
"political," but I also think it is a fair and prudent action for the FCC to
get other opinions on the record.

IMHO, a number of the MMTC suggestions are problematic. MMTC's "designated
hitter" suggestion is one that gives me a bit of concern, and should be
reviewed carefully by concerned parties (where if a non-English station is
taking down, other stations in the market would take up the role of
transmitting multilingual EAS and ***other information***.  As Barry &
Suzanne note, that would put the burden on other local stations to
coordinate to have personnel that could rip-translate-read emergency news
and alerts in multiple languages - its not just EAS.  That could result in a
burden that would make the 21st Century Communications and Video
Accessibility Act (CVAA) requirements pale by comparison. 

As far as EAS goes, however, the EAS-CAP Implementation Guide (ECIG) adopted
by the FCC and FEMA already provides for a method of tagging info blocks for
multilingual CAP alerts (see section 3.7 in the ECIG Implementation Guide at
http://www.eas-cap.org/ECIG-CAP-to-EAS_Implementation_Guide-V1-0.pdf).
FWIW, In Canada, the authorities send out CAP alerts with multiple info
blocks, each tagged for a language (English and French).  Other countries
using CAP tag for more languages than that.   

Dale Lamm asked about TTS in multiple languages.  Yes, DASDECs offer
language module options in multiple languages (Spanish, was our first added
language option some years ago).  The DASDEC is in over 10 countries now, so
we've become rather "language facile".  

Edward Czarnecki, PhD 
Senior Director – Strategic Development & Global Government Affairs
585-765-2254 ext. 122 | fax 585-765-9330
100 Housel Ave. | Lyndonville | NY | 14098

-----Original Message-----
From: eas-bounces at radiolists.net [mailto:eas-bounces at radiolists.net] On
Behalf Of suzanne at mab.org
Cc: The EAS Forum

 
Barry has a point.  Well, several, actually.  If you read deeply into the
Notice, it's less about EAS alerts and more about the follow-on information
-- where are the shelters, road closures, etc.  That requires a "live"