[LINK] ABC emergency broadcasting review discussion

[Jan Whitaker]

ABC local is debriefing about alerts during the fires:

from the ABC people running it:
- used twitter, in order incorporate handheld devices
other systems used:
- streaming access to the internet
- text advisories
could use:
- screen crawlers, like the news alerts on tv screens
issues:
- battery life is key, even for radios, in handhelds just as good
- lost transmitters for radio as well as mobile phones
- all in system, including neighbours
- cheapest way is radio
- ABC structure: local, news, and radio are different divisions, 
different roles, different processes for fact checking and 
production. There is talk of using ABC2 or another digital channel 
for continuous coverage. Could match radio audio with that 
programming. Idea of having a co-location in the emergency control 
centre. Lack of resources to have tv at the multiple fire locations. 
When King Lake was gone, the text messages came in but didn't go to 
air until checking facts.
- Locals need to rely on local information.
- CFA scanners may not even be right.
- the broadcasting person is afraid that people are making life and 
death decisions based on what they are saying. They can't give advice 
of what to do.

caller issues/ideas:
- issue of need to be inside to listen, but the work is outside
- issue of frequency of broadcast messages, changed from 30 min to 15 
min., more frequent if required, with advice of when the next report is to come
- when driving, FM stations aren't announcing to change to emergency 
network; alternative: emergency alert signs with the advice to turn 
to ABC local, community radio did provide the advice
- television is also not advising early enough
- ABC reception isn't good enough in the needed areas, still some 
blackholes in Gippsland, even though commercials come through
- Broadcast Australia owns the ABC transmitter! I didn't know that. 
Provided by the Commonwealth govt
- put outdoor 30ft aerial on house
- Alert timing - Trentham had already been under attack before the 
alert, which came when the change came through, way too late; Issue 
is for ABC to get confirmation of official info from DSE, weather 
bureau, and on the ground. 1 hour delay!! Better to get reliable from 
the community. Panicking callers not good enough for the ABC. Need 
Incident controllers to call ABC, but the emergency services aren't 
in favour of that.
- didn't use the 621 khz station for Radio National, much more 
powerful than the local - they are considering that and News Radio; 
during cyclones they do use it
- use an FM station because that is built in on mobile phones now; 
issue is cost of a more coverage
- send the ABC alerts as audio packages to the commercials; ABC: CFA 
could do that now. why aren't the commercials participating?
- one commercial did do a referral.  - Gold FM, as well as Radio National
- alert messages come from the emergency centre. The ABC does not 
create them, they deliver them. ABC has to decide how much to trust 
the emergency services and still act within their charter.
- National News is sometimes negating alerts just given a few minutes 
before - need for consistency in message/script.
- Relief centre guy: no system for ABC to sort announcements from 
talk back calls in order to get info out, 1/2 hour on hold. Need 
better way to get announcements like 'a doctor is here now for an 
hour at such and such centre'. Need a system that can ramp up 
quickly. Secret numbers to them or through the emergency relief 
agencies like Red Cross.
- telephone numbers given out so fast and not repeated
- people are listening on the streaming and calling to find out about 
local family
- names of fires versus locations, jargon confusion, names aren't 
simple, and change over time as to which areas are involved when it 
may be the same fire complex
- the week after -- the over dramatization was confronting for those 
who only had the ABC left; change to the football on the Friday night 
took out the fire coverage
- get the emergency numbers through an SMS call back with all of 
them... SES, Red Cross, local service numbers [Me: based on a 1300 
regionalisation like the Pizza and other service locations use]

that's it.

 >40,000 tickets already sold for the MCG concert. There was a 
ticketek meltdown, but it's back. Can sell about 70,000 tickets. 
They're using the grass area.

Jan


Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
jwhit at janwhitaker.com
blog: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/
business: http://www.janwhitaker.com

Our truest response to the irrationality of the world is to paint or 
sing or write, for only in such response do we find truth.
~Madeline L'Engle, writer

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