Media and Government Partnering for Emergencies - An Innovative Proposal

Tomorrow, the FCC and the Department of Homeland Security will be co-hosting a media forum: Federal Communications Commission and Department of Homeland Security to Host Media Forum Wednesday, June 2 [PDF]. The purpose is to "examine the relationship of media and government in times of emergencies." FCC Chairman Michael Powell had this blurb:

Media and government must be partners in preparing for emergencies. The public needs clear lines of communication of accurate and timely information. Only by working together can we ensure full readiness for when disaster strikes. During this forum we want to explore how this relationship can be strengthened at the local level.

The press release also noted that:

The forum will address means of fostering coordination between local government and media before an emergency occurs, media awareness of service vulnerabilities, and plans for restoration of service to community, including the special needs of disability communities.

Read the final agenda here: Final Agenda Released for FCC and DHS Media Forum [PDF].

Of course, I doubt this forum will have anything innovative to add. The focus is on broadcasters and how best to use their platform. Yes, broadcasters are and remain important, but they aren't the only information distribution game in town anymore. Perhaps the best way to distribute information is to bypass the broadcasters all together, or use a separate channel. You want local? Have emergency RSS fron any entity that thinks it needs one. Let people subscribe to these emergency RSS feeds so that they show up on their television screen no matter what they are watching. I've written more on the concept here: RSSTV Emergency Broadcatching System. Problem with my idea, though, is that it reduces, as opposed to aggrandizes, the power of traditional media. The other problem with the concept is that is a forward-thinking innovative take on the difficulties of distributing emergency information.

Interestingly, given that the FCC desires to regulate as much distribution technology as possible, when I forwarded the concept to the FCC, I received this response:

Thank you for your interest in this issue but the FCC and its rules do not address the technologies that the covered entities might use.

Imagine that, a technology involving broadcast that the FCC has no interest in regulating.