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On January 13, what should have been a lazy Saturday morning for
Hawaiians turned into the unthinkable. The state's Emergency
Alert System warned residents that a missile was headed toward the
island—and this was not a drill. For 38 agonizing minutes,
residents and the state's many tourists feared that the were in
the crosshairs of a nuclear attack.
Of course, the threat turned out to be a false alarm—an
operator at the Hawaii State Emergency Management Agency
accidentally sent out the warning. At no point did state or
military officials actually believe an attack was underway, but the
psychological impact on the state's citizens, and their
subsequent anger, is real. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai has promised a
full investigation.
Womble Bond Dickinson telecom lawyer John Garziglia discussed
the incident at length with Radio Ink. He said radio stations
should have established procedures for obtaining and verifying
emergency and disaster information.
"No radio station should ever take at face value
journalistically or otherwise an official-appearing pronouncement.
Call to verify, call for further information – have
procedures in place to keep your station from being punked or
scammed," Garziglia said. "On the other hand, it is wise
to caution against making too much of the Hawaii one-off errant
emergency message SNAFU. Emergency messages are meant to save
lives. Ignoring emergency proclamations could mean the difference
between lives saved and death. The Hawaii fiasco should be a
friendly reminder to broadcast stations that being part of your
community's emergency notification fabric is essential to your
stations integrity as well as to public safety."
John Garziglia represents radio and
television broadcasters, offering personalized assistance in all
areas of communications and telecommunications law including
transactional and contract negotiations for broadcast station
mergers and acquisitions, the securing of financing, governmental
auctions of new frequencies, license renewals, new stations
applications, facility changes, facility upgrades, licensing, and
compliance with FCC rules, regulations and policies.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general
guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought
about your specific circumstances.
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