[news] The Emergency Broadcast System: This Is Not A Test...

[Resist!ca]

There are issues regarding the sole use of broadcast means to alert people of an impending crisis, such as with America's Emergency Broadcast System (EBS) and the newer Emergency Announcement System (EAS). The EAS simply cannot replace in-person warnings. There is a strange situation here where the government is dependent upon the media to get its emergency messages out, yet with the unleashing of indy media, which often does not fall under FCC control, the government is finding it is not as easy to rein in the media for its own means nowadays. Additionally, less people are using mainstream sources for their news, thus getting a standardized announcement to all the indy media venues now seems nearly impossible. In a world where the media was controlled by the government's agenda, emergency alerts at a national level seemed somewhat easy. But now, with successful media in America that is openly hostile to the government agenda, getting media to cooperate in any way, even as an emergency alert system, is getting more thorny by the day. Figuring out WHO to believe for your news has now also complicated emergency warning systems.

URL: http://resist.ca/story/2005/8/30/75234/2220