AP's New York Office Bucks the Issue to Honolulu

Here's the complete text of AP Corporate Communications representative Jack Stoke's response to my February 25 e-mail:

"We've consulted with the appropriate people here and designated our bureau chief in Hawaii to respond to your query."

I'm looking forward to hearing from bureau chief David Briscoe, who sent an e-mail suggesting I telephone him. I wrote him today as follows:

David, thanks for your note. Since the Associated Press’s New York office has designated you as the conveyor of the organization’s view on this matter, I look forward to seeing what it is.

To review the issue, many observers have remarked since immediately after the December 26 tsunami that the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center did not attempt to communicate an urgent tsunami warning to the international news media with networks that reach into the Indian Ocean region.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s timeline of post-tsunami events suggests that had a message gone through pre-arranged and rehearsed channels to the major news media and had the media been prepared to recognize the urgency of the warning, tens of thousands of lives might have been saved.

In other words, we’re talking about whether lives were lost because there was no pre-arranged protocol or standard operating procedure that includes transmitting potentially life-saving messages to the major media, including the AP, CNN and other organizations.

The question is whether the AP sees a role for itself in mitigating future tragedies on the scale of the Indian Ocean tsunami. The AP certainly does participate in facilitating warnings when Mount St. Helens rumbles, when hurricanes bear down on Florida and when storms result in flash flooding in the Southwest, so it is inconceivable to me that improving communications channels to send tsunami warnings would be an inappropriate media role.

We are not suggesting the media should become a “partner” with the government; that would be anathema to journalists. What we do think appropriate would be conversations involving representatives of the AP, CNN, other media and NOAA on how government scientists can effectively communicate their urgent messages when they suspect a tsunami has been generated. As I said in our phone call on Friday, the fact that the AP publishes its numbers in telephone books is demonstration enough that it willingly enables newsmakers to conveniently communicate their information.

Congress is likely to endorse proactive media contact by NOAA’s agencies when it passes S.50, The Tsunami Preparedness Act (see 2/12 post on my web log, linked below), and NOAA will undoubtedly react appropriately. What I’m asking the AP to do is help close the gap – in the spirit of avoiding or reducing human casualties – by instructing NOAA on which communications channels it should use for future tsunami warnings.

Because the views you express on this issue will be the AP’s official response, a telephone conversation would seem to be too informal. I respectfully request that you convey AP’s position in writing for the record, and then we can discuss our views if you like. I’ve cc’d Kathleen Carroll on this message in an attempt to reach above the AP's Corporate Communications management level.

Aloha, Doug
--
Doug Carlson
(web log address)

BTW, a mutual recognition that we both have a good understanding of journalism ethics and practices may help our communication. Here are excerpts from my bio:

Journalism
Reported or edited for The Honolulu Advertiser; KGMB-TV in Honolulu; The Chicago Daily News and Westinghouse Broadcasting Company all-news radio stations in Philadelphia (KYW) and Los Angeles (KFWB). Earned bachelors and masters degrees in journalism from the University of Iowa and Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism respectively.

Corporate Manager
Managed Hawaiian Electric Company’s communications programs and served as spokesperson 1981-1989. Responsible for media and community relations, crisis communications, internal communications, financial and customer publications, advertising and video production. Recognized by the Hawaii chapters of Toastmasters International ("Silver Gavel") and the Public Relations Society of America ("Koa Anvil for Emergency Public Relations").