As expected, the manager of Clear Channel’s stations on Oahu defended KSSK’s performance during the recent tsunami alert in response to our commentary in Pacific Business News . (If you want more along the same line, see our January 2009 PBN commentary .) Unfortunately, Chuck Cotton brushed us off and did so with such dispatch that he asserted something untrue in his second graf. I haven’t called myself a journalist for decades – not since I stopped reporting for KGMB-TV. I’m a consultant, as clearly stated at the end of my PBN piece. My status aside, what have real journalists said about KSSK’s performance during emergencies? Here’s part of an editorial published by the Honolulu Star-Bulletin on December 29, 2008 that reflected on the emergency response to the island-wide power outage three days earlier: “The designated emergency broadcast radio stations, KSSK-AM and its sister FM station, should receive credit for transmitting during the blackout. “However, information tha
CHORE was launched in 2006 after officials responding to an earthquake emergency obviously didn't measure up; see CHORE's earliest posts. Their performance left an opening for average citizens to weigh in with experience-based suggestions to improve crisis communications. The many deaths recorded after California's wildfires also revealed gaps in officials' ability to communicate effectively. Visitors are invited to comment with their own ideas.