More TVs Slammed For 'Impaired' Coverage
by John Eggerton
Broadcasting & Cable
8/9/2005 3:25:00 PM
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA633474.html?display=Breaking+News&referral=SUPP
True to its word, the FCC continues to get tough on TV operators over their
provision of emergency information to the hearing impaired.
The commission Tuesday proposed fining two Florida TV stations, WBBH and
WZVN of Fort Myers, Fla., $24,000 apiece for three separate violations of
its requirement that TV stations and cable operators "provide people with
hearing disabilities the same access to emergency information as those with
unimpaired hearing."
The violations came during coverage of Hurricane Charley in August 2004.
The stations, which dropped regular programming in favor of simulcasting
24-hour hurricane coverage (per a time-brokerage agreement) failed to
provide visual warnings to accompany the news that a causeway was closed,
that an evacuation of one area had been issued, and that residents in
another area were advised not evacuate but stay where they were.
The stations did not dispute the omissions, but said they didn't feel the
information was critical and that that call fell within the discretion the
FCC gave stations to decide when such information was important enough to
warrant the on-screen visuals, which can include captions, crawls and graphics.
The commission concluded instead that the information was obviously
critical, that stations have discretion over only non-critical disaster
information, and that to interpret the "good faith discretion" to include
the cited ommissions would be to "swallow the rule and render it wholly
ineffective."
"We're considering all our options," said Steve Ponitus, GM of both
stations, who said it was some kind of "divine irony" that the ruling would
be released on the one-year anniversary of the storm. "I am so proud of my
staff and the job they did a year ago this week of protecting the lives and
property of the people of South Florida, including the hearing impaired,"
he said.. "They personified everything a responsible broadcaster should be
and I stand by what we did."
Jon Blake, who represents the stations for D.C. firm Covington & Burling,
points out that the fine proposal came after the FCC reviewed the stations'
required defense of all eight days of station coverage. He will now focus
on responding to the "three slices the FCC focuse on, which we think is a
little myopic."
He also pointed out that the commission's policy provided a perverse
disincentive for extended coverage, since the more you do the greater your
vulnerability, a point that has been made by other broadcasters, including
the Radio-Television News Directors Association.
FCC rules approved in 2000 require TV stations and cable operators to
provide visual versions of emergency information voiced during a broadcast.
Tuesday's proposed fines were the third instance of the FCC proposing
penalties against stations that failed to make emergency warnings available
in visual form.
The first fines were proposed in February against San Diego TV stations
that failed in a few instances to provide visual warnings during southern
California's 2003 wildfire outbreak.
Those stations expressed frustration over the fines, in one case including
a pledge not to pay. Opining that the few instances cited came among days'
worth of coverage from staffers that, in some cases, faced the destruction
of their own homes and property as they also tried to protect their viewers.
The FCC said at the time that more proposed fines were on the way, and was
as good as its word.
In May, it proposed fining three Washington TV stations a total of $40,000
for tornado coverage that lacked sufficient visual warnings, or where those
warnings were delayed.
Those stations, too, expressed frustration over a fine levied for a few
moments amidst hours of wall-to-wall coverage filled with emergency info,
including in some cases color-coded maps and other visuals.
================================
George Antunes, Political Science Dept
University of Houston; Houston, TX 77204
Voice: 713-743-3923 Fax: 713-743-3927
antunes at uh dot edu
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