News Media Call #2 Goes to the Associated Press

The Associated Press's web portal doesn't easily reveal senior management identities. Only the Broadcast Service lists executives' names and numbers, but my call there was directed to New York's international desk, which passed me on to Corporate Communications. There I was told to send my concerns to info@ap.org. Despite misgivings about using such a generic address, I'm trusting that Jack Stokes in Corporate Communications will be on it. Here's my e-mail:

Good talking with you. As noted during our call, my web log (below) has concluded that the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center did not have usable crisis communications protocols in place (and probably still doesn’t) when the December 26 earthquake hit that would have enabled it to issue a usable tsunami warning via the AP, CNN, BBC, etc. Instead of calling the media at a high enough level to initiate a bulletin to the region, scientists are on record as having picked up their phones and called friends and colleagues in the Indian Ocean region starting about an hour before the waves reached Sri Lanka and India. A UPI story carried in the Washington Times and elsewhere on January 7 quoted a NOAA spokeswoman as saying the Center doesn't even maintain a list of media contacts. (See my blog’s January 8 post.)

I submitted testimony to the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation re S.50, The Tsunami Preparedness Act, which was offered by Sen. Daniel Inouye and Sen. Ted Stevens (see 2/1 post). I subsequently posted a suggestion to improve the bill’s existing language to specifically include “international news media networks with instantaneous transmission capabilities” in the list of communications channels NOAA would be instructed to use in future emergencies (see 2/12). (My 1/13 post has my so-called bona fides to offer these suggestions and criticisms.)

NOAA representatives have been attending conferences all over the world on establishing tsunami warning networks (Tokyo today, Paris next month). They also should make plans to meet with executives of CNN, AP and other news organizations to establish “flash-point” communications protocols. And if NOAA isn’t inclined to initiate those meetings, I would hope the major media would approach NOAA to start the necessary planning.

I look forward to staying in touch and would be pleased if my web log observations contribute to a workable crisis communications plan that involves The Associated Press. Once you read this, I’d welcome a response on which executive would be most inclined to carry the ball for the AP.

I should note here that I'm not suggesting the AP should crawl into bed with NOAA and become part of the government's news-generating apparatus. That would be objectionable to any news person, but it surely would be legitimate for the AP and other major media to discuss with NOAA how it can efficiently connect with the media when minutes matter -- as they did on December 26.

Doug Carlson
Honolulu, HI
February 25, 2005