A Role for PEG Channels in Emergency Preparedness By Joseph Murphy, President and Chief Executive Officer, TelVue Corporation In recent years, 9/11, Hurricane Katrina and the Virginia Tech massacreschool shootings have raised awareness of the need to provide residents in the immediate proximity of disasters with timely, accurate and actionable emergency information. With the continued threat of terrorism and severe weather related to climate change more resources and personnel are being invested inallocated toward emergency preparedness than ever before. The result has been a reexamination of the emergency communication structures in place not only at a national level, but at a regional and local levels as well. Across America, emergency personnel are now asking the question, if tragedy strikes my town, how will we get the word out? For many at the local level, an important part of this answer can be provided by municipal Public, Education, and Government (PEG) cable channels. have the potential to fill this role, complementing the national Emergency Alert System (EAS) at a state and local level. When utilized to their full potential, these channels can provide local emergency personnel with more control and enhanced communication with the public, saving lives and reducing confusion in an emergencybe used to provide the critical level of localism that is lacking in the current national Emergency Alert System (EAS). There are six easy steps to making your local PEG channel function as an effective emergency communications resource: remote access; channel overrides; proper training; multi-tasking; preparation; and public awareness. Each will be discussed in detail below. To fully understand the value of PEG channels in local emergenciesy preparedness and response, however, it is necessary helpful to first to examinereview the history and operational the role structure of the EAS and its flaws at a local level. A Breakdown At The Local Level The EAS descends from a system originally developed to alert the public in the event of a nuclear attack. While it has beenover time it was revamped over time to respond to non-nuclear threats such as severe weather, but the basic procedures are still the same. During times of national emergency, an EAS alert is issued by the President or other senior federal government official. These messages are transmitted directly to 34 Primary Entry Point (PEP) stations (less than one per state) that in turn relay the information to participating radio and TV stations. Stations receiving the message have the dual responsibility of alerting citizens in their area and passing the information down the daisy chain to other stations., questions have been raised about the effectiveness of an alert system based on Cold War era architecture. 1
In March 2007 The United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report that analyzed these issuesthe EAS. The title of the report: was EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS: Current Emergency Alert System Has Limitations, and Development of a New Integrated System Will Be Challenging,; and it left little doubt about the gave a good indication of the GAO s conclusions. FEMA officials and other stakeholders In this report emergency preparedness agencies like FEMA told the GAO that the current EAS system faced a range of technical, cultural, and other challenges. A recurrent theme in the report was the failure of the EAS at a state and local level. Some of these failures were the result of technical malfunctionsthe system not working as it was intended, but other failures were due to fatal flaws in the system s daisy chain design. During times of national emergency, an EAS alert is issued by the President or other senior federal government official. These messages are transmitted directly to 34 Primary Entry Point (PEP) stations (less than one per state) that in turn relay the information to participating radio and TV stations. Stations receiving the message have the dual responsibility of alerting citizens in their area and passing the information down the daisy chain to other stations. Specifically, any breakany break in the daisy-chain resulteds in subsequent stations not receiving the emergency message. When thewhen the chain chain breaks closer breaks closer toto one of the original PEP stations, a a greater number of peoplegreater portion of publi c fails to get the message especially in less metropolitan areas.. In a January 2007 FEMA testing, Minot, North Dakota, three of the 34 initial PEP stations failed to receive and effectively rebroadcast a test message beyond the first link of the daisy-chain. In a separate statewide test, a test message was not received beyond an area roughly 50 to 70 miles from the state capital. Hardware and software failures were responsible for the transmission breakdown, but state and local emergency officials recognized deeper, underlying flawsfailures in top-down emergency messaging are reasons why cities and towns need to consider having their own emergency communication resource but they are not the only.reason. Needed Improvements For Local Emergencies During national emergencies As a top down system, the EAS requires participation by designatedbroadcasters that are part of the EAS daisy chain media outlets are required to transmit emergency messagesduring national emergencies. B, but not for emergencies emergency messages originating at the state or local levelthat are lesser in scope. Despite the fact that most emergencies originate on the state or local level, participation by EAS, as most emergencies do, participation by EAS media outlets remains is strictly voluntary. 2
To complicate matters, the effectiveness of the EAS on a state and local level is constrained by: the limited number of media outlets; a lack of localism; varied levels of preparation; a lack of coordination; reliance on a daisy chain transmission; inadequate training; and a lack of technology platforms beyond radio and television stations. Needed Improvements For Local Emergencies According to the GAO report, initiatives are underway to address some of these issues but the solutions themselves are not without problems and controversy. Some of the key issues the EAS faces include: a limited number of participaing media outlets; the ability to locally target so many areas; varied levels of preparation; a lack of coordination; reliance on a daisy chain transmission; inadequate training; and a lack of technology platforms beyond radio and television stations. In the meantimeuntil these issues can be addressed at the national level, smaller cities and towns are faced with the choice of either playing a waiting gamehoping for the,best or taking affirmative action themselves. Some In many cities, towns and countiescommunities that action has taken the form of equipping their have turned to their own PEG channels with emergency communication capabilities to provide their residents with local, timely, accurate and actionable information during emergencies. A Role For PEG Channels PEG channels have the potential to be a key resource for local information during emergencies because they inherently solve three several key EAS shortcomings identified in the GAO report. of the national EAS. First, the number of outlets; there are literally thousands of PEG channels across the U.S. with one or more in nearly every town with cable television service. Second, localism; PEG channels are by definition geo-targeted down to the town level so each channels messaging is geo-targeted to a specific community. Third, and perhaps most significantly, is the issue of local control; PEG channels are owned and operated by municipalities. This empowers towns to enable towns to decide for themselves what constitutes an emergency and to issue emergency alerts at their discretion. As a result, towns that use their PEG channels to broadcast emergency information reduce reliance on conventional radio and TV stations that may not be ready, willing or able to participate. This self-reliance is especially significant given thebecause the increasing trend toward media consolidation and station automation is reducing local allegiance of many broadcast outlets.. 3
Six Steps to Making PEG Channels into a Local EAS While all PEG channels have the potential to be great emergency communication resources there are some things that need to be put into place to make that potential a reality. PEG channels are well-positioned as emergency information resources because they provide multiple outlets, localism and control. But this potential does not always translate into reality; to facilitate this process, tto make your PEG channel into an effective source of local information during emergencies here are six steps to making your PEG channel an emergency information resourceyou need to consider. Following these guidelines, many municipalities local offices of emergency management like the ones inincluding Philadelphia, PA, and Atlantic County, NJ, have significantly enhanced their added a critical emergency messaging capability to their government access channels. Remote Access While emergencies can happen 24 hours a day many PEG channels are manned more or less during normal business hours. Therefore offices of To effectively respond to emergency situations whenever they happen, officialsemergency management need the proper technologyto get the word out to publish information directly on the channel from remote locationsany time of the day or night. A Therefore weba web-based system that enables emergency personnel to post information directly to a PEG channel s bulletin board from wherever there is internet access is a key element of making your PEG channel ready for emergencies. This capability not only provides a 24/7 broadcasting solution, but also decreases costly delays and errors in notificationmessage transmissions. Channel Overrides Even timely, accurate emergency information is useless if the information never gets aired. Emergency personnel need an automated way to interrupt normal programming on the channel at appropriate intervals to disseminate the message. Technology is available that performs this function. It also gives emergency responders the ability to run a crawl along the bottom of the screen with updated emergency information during normal programming. Proper Training Human error can render the best technology systems useless during emergencies. PEG channel staff and emergency personnel require ongoing Therefore it is essential that any PEG channel technology provider also include an in-depth orientation and ongoing emergency training and coordination to prepare forto ensure that personnel are prepared for a variety of an emergency scenarios. Human error can be fatal in an emergency. The same company that provides enhanced local emergency communications capabilities can also train employees and provide critical updates. 4
Multi-Casting PEG channels are highly accessible to most people but not everyone and not all the time. People are not always in front of their TV; storm damage can interrupt service; and, some residents do not subscribe to cable at all. PEG channels are highly accessible to most people, but residents are not always near their television during times of emergency. For this these reasons, it is necessary to provide for a multi-platform solution that enablesdisseminate emergency messages that air on your PEG channel to be sent to residents via other media as well. via multiple communications means. A newfor example a 4-in-1 messaging capability can nowthat simultaneously also sends emergency information aired via on the PEG channels, to municipal websites, and to theand the computers and cell phones of residents will reach more residents than the PEG channel could on its own.who opt into the service. Preparation Just as a failure at a primary point of transmission would be disastrous for the EAS, an incapacitated PEG channel would be rendered ineffectivedepending on the situation, your PEG channel could be incapacitated by the very emergency that you need to report about in an emergency. To avoid this a total information black-out in this situation it is necessary to provide have an 24/7 emergency back- up or redundant broadcasting capability. In the event of a failure at a PEG channel, a remotetherefore is critical that any vendor that you work to also provide a redundant system with third party with24/7/365 staffing and a fail-safe generator back-up. The goal is to be sure that you can continue to post information to the your local channel and other broadcast platforms until the your PEG facility comes back on line. Public Awareness To make PEG channelsbe an effective emergency communication resource the public needs to be aware that your PEG channel it is a place to they can turn for information during emergencies. An effective way to accomplish this is to create a viewing habit by making your PEG channel a better resource for everyday local informationposition PEG channels as valuable resources for all local information. By improving production values and providing accurate information about local news, weather, traffic and events, municipalities can brand their local PEG channels as places to turn for local information. Conclusion As the GAO report indicates, the EAS has limitations and even the proposed solutions are flawed. For state and local officials the main concerns are the breakdown in transmitting national emergency information to the local level; and the ability to activate the system during local emergencies. PEG channels offer local officials a way tohave the potential to address these shortcomings. Due to their due to their vast number, geo-targeting and local control. To realize this potential PEG channels need to take steps to ensure remote access, channel 5
overrides, proper training, preparation and public awareness, PEG channels have the potential to solve many of the challenges EAS has at the local level. The equipment, training and supportresources needed to make this potential a reality are readily available and many cities and towns are already implementing them. Joseph Murphy is the president and CEO of TelVue, a media company that is developing a virtual network of municipally-owned cable channels that helps improve the look, information quality and operational performance of public education and government (PEG) channels. TelVue recently released a 4-in-1 emergency communications capability that simultaneously transmits emergency messages via four means cell phone, email, website, and PEG channel. # # # 6