It’s not a ringing statement and it’s not in writing, but at least we have the Associated Press’s official response to the view it has a role in helping save lives in future tsunami emergencies.
As noted in the February 27 post, AP’s Corporate Communications office bucked the issue back to David Briscoe, the AP bureau chief in Honolulu. After giving him a couple days to respond to my e-mail, I called him today after correctly concluding the agency didn’t intend to put its response in writing.
Here’s Briscoe’s spoken statement on behalf of the Associated Press:
“The official position of the Associated Press is that it’s the responsibility of government to devise the best warning systems for natural disasters, and it’s our job to report the news – including news of impending disasters – in as timely and accurate a manner as possible.”
Briscoe said the AP’s statement “doesn’t really go any further than that.” Unofficially, though, Briscoe made it clear the agency will provide information to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and its Pacific Tsunami Warning Center that could help facilitate future warnings.
“We want to open as many channels as possible to disseminate news. There’d still a matter of judgment of what’s put on the wire and what’s not…. We’d want to disseminate news (about a tsunami) as far as we could. That represents a problem. Don’t overestimate the reach of any news agency. We have members and subscribers all over the world but don’t have them on every shore.”
This whole issue was prompted by the fact that an effective warning reached no shores around the Indian Ocean region on Decembeer 26. We can only do what we can do, and it’s encouraging that the AP is willing to provide information to NOAA and the PTWC on how to enhance transmission of tsunami warning messages to the agency.
That said, you have to wonder whether AP executives are a wee bit too focused on (drum roll, please) JOURNALISM ETHICS when what we're talking about is simple proactive engagement by a news organization in ways that quite easily could save lives.
Next Step: Encourage the PTWC to Call the Associated Press
The AP’s door is open. NOAA and the PTWC have to go through it. I’ll write Dr. Charles McCreery, PTWC director, suggesting he make a formal request to David Briscoe here in Honolulu for guidance on how to contact the agency in a future tsunami emergency. And although the Honolulu bureau if only a few miles from the Center, the best contact point probably is in far-off New York with someone who has the authority to approve transmission of a warning message on the AP’s global network.
Footnote:
Danette Johnson at CNN International (see February 24 post) said today she’s following up to see what can be done to help the PTWC get the word more efficiently to CNN in future emergencies.
Doug Carlson
Honolulu, HI
March 2, 2005
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