[EAS] Multilingual Alerting

[Ed Czarnecki]

Three judge panel decided in favor of the FCC in that it has discretion
whether or not to adopt a specific solution for multilingual, and does not
have to go beyond what Congress has already authorized in law.  In other
words, MMTC demanded a very specific solution that may have gone beyond the
FCC's existing powers (the "designated hitter" approach it advocated) -
demanding an all-or-nothing decision ... and MMTC ended up getting nothing.

HOWEVER, the court was clearly **very** annoyed that the FCC took 10 years
to address the multilingual question - and then only by finally asking for
more info.  

The decision chided the FCC on this in its conclusion: "To be sure, the FCC
should move expeditiously in finally deciding whether to impose a
multi-lingual requirement on broadcasters, or instead to leave the issue
with alert originators and others. At some point, the FCC must fish or cut
bait on this question."

The dissenting view actually concurs on the main point of law - that the FCC
has the discretion.  However, the dissent from Judge Millett was to stress
how unreasonable it was for the FCC to sit on this for a decade.

So, the FCC has won the immediate battle.  And - though the judges make a
point about the extended timeline - does the FCC have the resources and
expertise to dive further into the multilingual question?  They are
stretched thin as it is ...

-----Original Message-----
From: EAS [mailto:eas-bounces at radiolists.net] On Behalf Of Clay Freinwald

This - most certainly - will be a discussion item for the next WaState SECC
!

 

http://www.insideradio.com/court-upholds-fcc-decision-to-not-require-multili