How well does the "indispensable" sound function?
-- Investigation of the development and construction of emergency broadcasting in some areas
In recent years, provinces and cities have focused on promoting the construction of emergency broadcasting systems.
In 2019
The General Office of the People's Government of Anhui Province issued the Implementation Opinions on Solidly Promoting the Construction of the Emergency Broadcasting System to make arrangements for the construction of the emergency broadcasting system in Anhui Province.
In 2020
The Notice of the General Office of the People's Government of Hunan Province on Further Improving the Construction of the Emergency Broadcasting System in the Province was issued, which requires further improvement of the construction of the emergency broadcasting system from three aspects: establishing work objectives, clarifying the main tasks, and improving the guarantee mechanism.
In 2021
"Building an emergency broadcasting system for 2,000 administrative villages" was written into the Guizhou Provincial Government Work Report and included in the "Ten Facts of People's Livelihood" of the Guizhou Provincial Government in 2021. In October 2021, the "14th Five-Year Development Plan for Radio, Television and Online Audio-Visual in Guizhou Province" was promulgated, which requires actively promoting the construction of the emergency broadcasting system and accelerating the deep integration of the emergency management system and the emergency broadcasting system.
The "Beijing Municipal Radio and Television and Network Audio-visual Development Plan for the 14th Five-Year Plan Period" was promulgated, and the construction of Beijing's emergency broadcasting system has become an important part of the new audio-visual public service project.
After years of practical exploration, emergency broadcasting has been written into the outline of the national economic and social development plan, and its importance has become more and more prominent. In the mainland's "Fourteenth Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development and the Outline of Long-term Goals for 2035", the "Improving the Public Cultural Service System" section clearly proposes to "improve the emergency broadcasting system".
In order to further give play to the role of emergency broadcasting in emergency management, build a good management and use of emergency broadcasting, and improve emergency management capabilities, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television and the Ministry of Emergency Management issued the "Opinions on Further Giving Play to the Role of Emergency Broadcasting in Emergency Management" (hereinafter referred to as the "Opinions") in December 2020, proposing to continuously improve the ability and level of accurate dissemination of emergency information; in June 2021, the "Interim Measures for the Management of Emergency Broadcasting" (hereinafter referred to as the "Measures"),proposed to accelerate the construction of the emergency broadcasting system. Improve the efficiency of emergency broadcasting services.
How is emergency broadcasting built everywhere? How's it working? What are the other deficiencies and shortcomings? Around these topics, this newspaper reporter conducted an investigation.
Recently, the operation and maintenance department of the Fenggang County Branch of Guizhou Radio and Television Network Company overhauled the emergency broadcasting point in the Yonglong community of Yong'an Town
"When driving, please reduce the speed of the car, try to park the car in the underground garage or leeward place, so as not to be hit; friends at home, please quickly close the doors and windows, and away from the glass doors and windows; if outdoors, please protect the head with rain gear helmets, etc., quickly enter the building to avoid being hit."
At 18:00 on January 4, over some cities and counties in Guizhou Province, a large cloud suddenly struck, and for a time the wind was fierce, and dense hail fell on Guiyang and the surrounding areas. At this time, the voice of Guizhou emergency broadcast sounded on the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, constantly providing early warning information and prompting precautions for all parties.
In times of emergency, emergency broadcasting is the voice that people most want to hear. After years of development, emergency broadcasting has become an important part of the mainland's emergency management system, an information bridge connecting the government and the disaster-stricken masses, a "microphone" for the government to issue early warnings and organize rescue to the public, and a "pressure regulator" and "pressure reducing valve" in the disaster area that can soothe people's hearts and relieve emotions.
An effective means of eliminating "information silos"
What is emergency broadcasting? The "Measures" give a definition: emergency broadcasting refers to the transmission and broadcasting system that uses radio and television, network audio-visual and other information transmission methods to release emergency information to the public or to specific areas and specific groups of people.
Chen An, a professor at the Institute of Science and Technology Strategic Consulting of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, further explained in an interview with reporters that emergency broadcasting can be a "big speaker" at the head of the village, or it can be a television, a radio station, and it can also be a mobile phone text message and network video.
Looking back at the past, the development of emergency broadcasting in the mainland should start from 2008.
At 14:28 on May 12, 2008, Wenchuan struck a magnitude 8 earthquake on the Richter scale, and television and radio stations across the country broke with the norm and put into reporting at the first time, broadcasting the earthquake disaster live all day long.
In the evening, the Central People's Radio "Voice of China" launched the "Wenchuan Emergency Rescue" program, which was broadcast live 24 hours a day. China Radio International quickly adjusted its daily programs and entered the live broadcast state, and the "International Online" website in various languages set up a special topic of "Watching Wenchuan - Unity of Purpose to Fight Earthquakes and Disaster Relief", and the multimedia linkage of all Taiwan's audio, television, network and newspapers was linked, and the rolling publication and rolling broadcast were carried out to track and report on the disaster situation in a timely manner. The propaganda and reporting of television stations and radio stations at all levels throughout the country on earthquake relief and disaster relief have created a good environment for public opinion to win victory in earthquake relief and relief.
Through the actual combat of broadcasting earthquake relief in the Wenchuan earthquake, the concept of emergency broadcasting is about to come out, and its necessity has won the consensus of the domestic industry and academic circles, and has also received the attention and support of the relevant state departments.
Wang Yu, a professor at the School of Government and Public Affairs of the Communication University of China, said in an interview with reporters that in 2013, the establishment of the National Emergency Broadcasting Center marked the beginning of the comprehensive construction stage of the mainland's emergency broadcasting system.
In 2013, the national emergency broadcast opened a directional emergency broadcast in Lushan County, the epicenter of the Ya'an earthquake in Sichuan. Since then, in the earthquake disasters such as Ludian and Jinggu in Yunnan, the national emergency radio station has been launched many times to achieve targeted coverage in the form of single-point or multi-point FM broadcasting to provide services to the masses in the "information island". The local disaster-stricken people learned about the action guidance and notification announcements from the government in a timely manner through the emergency radio, and reflected the problems related to family searching, the disappearance of children, and the rescue of homeless people; the government departments broadcast the rescue situation, the resettlement of the victims and other management measures through the emergency radio; the volunteers and non-governmental charitable organizations and other forces from outside into the disaster area also gathered information to the "tent radio" to coordinate resources and assist in disaster relief.
"In emergencies, a sound emergency broadcasting system is a powerful tool for the government's emergency response, and by broadcasting emergency broadcast information to the disaster victims in the core area, assisting the government to carry out reasonable guidance for the emergency response actions of the disaster victims, and can assume the responsibility of emergency information services that cannot be replaced by daily communication means." Chen An said that giving full play to the functions of emergency broadcasting is a necessary way and innovative means to realize the construction of a modern emergency governance system of the government.
Information "stick to the end"
For a long time, the "big speakers" distributed in the streets, alleys, and fields have been an important force in the development of the people's broadcasting industry, but with the popularization of television and mobile phones, these "big speakers" installed on telephone poles and roofs have gradually faded out of people's vision.
It is worth noting that the "Opinions" pointed out that it is necessary to focus on the construction of grass-roots emergency broadcasting active release terminals, strengthen the "last kilometer" of emergency broadcasting, and promote the realization of emergency information "one pole to the end".
Today, the "big horn" is shining again, shining in the grassroots emergency management. "Please bring a mask, wash your hands frequently, don't go out, and avoid gatherings." At the beginning of 2020, the sudden outbreak of new crown pneumonia disrupted the rhythm of people's lives, and the rural "loudspeaker" made people realize the unique role of emergency broadcasting in epidemic prevention and control.
"In rural areas, there are many types of natural disasters, which are not easy to prevent and control, and because of the poor geographical environment, it is often difficult to carry out rescue." Chen An said that in the process of responding to natural disasters, accident disasters, public health and social security emergencies, rural emergency broadcasting plays an important role in organizing and guiding.
In 2021, Nanchong City, Sichuan Province, experienced 21 heavy rainfall weather processes, encountering the largest rainfall in Nanchong since meteorological records and a major flood peak once in 40 years. The relevant person in charge of the Nanchong Emergency Management Bureau said that more than 80,000 people were safely avoided and transferred during the flood season, and there were no casualties. Rural emergency broadcasting has played an important role in early warning, information dissemination, social mobilization, and assistance in rescue.
Today, 7 of the 8 counties (cities, districts) in Nanchong have been built and put into use, and 18,670 large speaker terminals have been built, including 7,900 receivers and 381 sound columns; 229 township-level front-ends and 3,133 village-level front-ends have been built. "On average, emergency information is broadcast about 200 times a year, and daily information is broadcast more than 6,000 times." The above-mentioned person in charge said.
"Rainstorm warning! Rain clouds are about to affect my area, please take precautions in advance. "At the Zunyi Meteorological Observatory in Guizhou Province, the staff can transmit meteorological early warning information to 1458 villages in the city through the emergency broadcast platform, and can also select specific areas through the background to accurately release."
In 2021, through the emergency broadcasting platform, the meteorological department of Zunyi City issued 55 disastrous weather warning information and accurately pushed the red warning information of heavy rain 14 times, helping 6283 people to transfer to avoid danger in advance, and the number of deaths (disappearances) due to disasters decreased by 96.3% compared with the previous year, and 85.7% less than the average of the same period in the past five years.
With the support of the state, during the "13th Five-Year Plan" period, Guizhou implemented the emergency broadcasting system construction project in 21 deeply impoverished counties. In 2021, another 25 poverty alleviation counties in Guizhou were included in the national project of "county-level emergency broadcasting system construction for the elderly and young and underdeveloped areas", and the Guizhou provincial government included the completion of the construction of emergency broadcasting systems in 2,000 administrative villages into the "Ten Facts of People's Livelihood". Today, Guizhou Province has built 1 provincial emergency broadcasting platform, 2 municipal platforms, and 68 county-level platforms, deployed more than 220,000 emergency broadcast terminals, and covered more than 11,700 administrative villages.
In January 2022, Wuchuan Gelao and Miao Autonomous County in Zunyi City, Guizhou Province, used the emergency broadcasting platform to carry out publicity on safety science knowledge such as fire prevention and electricity prevention
"Safe, manageable and controllable are important characteristics of Guizhou's emergency broadcasting, and entering the village through optical fiber will achieve 'village sound'." Yan Chao, director of the Science and Technology and Public Service Division of the Guizhou Provincial Radio and Television Bureau, said that in normal times, emergency broadcasting is a "stabilizer" that brings news information and early warning information to the masses; in emergency moments, emergency broadcasting is a "microphone" to assist in responding to emergencies.
"For more than 10 years, the emergency broadcasting system has played an active role in national disaster prevention, mitigation and relief work. Not only that, emergency broadcasting can also play an important role in normalizing issues such as party history study and education and rural revitalization. Wang Yu said that in the future, with the continuous construction of the "last kilometer" of emergency broadcasting, the "big speaker" can also play a more accurate and meticulous role.
Adapting to local conditions can find the right path
At 1:45 a.m. on January 8, an earthquake measuring 6.9 on the Richter scale struck Menyuan County, Haibei Prefecture, Qinghai Province. Xining quickly launched the emergency broadcast mode of emergency broadcasting emergencies, released authoritative information at the first time, and focused on the situation in the disaster area and the earthquake relief work.
In August 2021, the Emergency Management Bureau of Xining City, Qinghai Province, together with the "Xining Emergency Broadcast", recorded a special interview program to interpret the newly revised "Work Safety Law" and connect the audience to answer questions on the spot
The "Xining Emergency Broadcasting", which is carried on the traffic literature and art broadcast of Xining Radio and Television Station, covers the jurisdiction of Xining City and is the radio media with the highest listening rate in the province. In the actual operation process, the Xining Emergency Management Bureau is responsible for collecting and sorting out the popular science content, and regularly sending it to xining Radio and Television Station to ensure that the broadcast content is in the correct direction, close to the masses, and in line with the key work at the current stage. Xining Radio and Television Station undertakes the operation and maintenance of "Xining Emergency Broadcasting" and the production and broadcasting of emergency information to ensure that various early warning signals are broadcast on a priority basis.
"At present, the only emergency broadcasts listed and operated in Qinghai Province are 'Xining Emergency Broadcasts', and the rural 'big speakers' are not widely used." Wang Tieshuo, deputy director of the Xining Emergency Management Bureau, told reporters that due to the large number of pastoral areas in Qinghai, there are many places that cannot be covered by the network. Broadcasting has the characteristics of wide coverage area, strong loss resistance and low reception cost, and is the best way to obtain information in the local area.
It is worth noting that the "Opinions" pointed out that all localities are encouraged to combine the characteristics of emergency management work, information release needs, geographical and cultural environment, etc., innovate operation models, promote information sharing and element circulation, and actively cultivate new application scenarios.
"Due to the large differences in geographical location and climatic characteristics, emergency broadcasting in various places should be adapted to local conditions and find suitable paths." Chen An believes that the lifeline of emergency broadcasting is timeliness and professionalism, which can be reached in one step and instantaneously, so as to protect the safety of the people.
As a radio channel covering 16 cities and surrounding areas in Shandong Province, with a listening population of more than 95 million, Shandong Radio and Television Station Shandong Traffic Radio (Shandong Emergency Broadcasting) has more than 50 employees, 2 live broadcast rooms, and a 24-hour service hotline to provide information consultation, road condition inquiry, emergency help, rights protection complaints, extreme weather reminders, emergency notification and other services for listeners in the province.
"Usually, it mainly reports major work arrangements, the work dynamics of emergency management departments in various places, industry management, emergency drills and other information. In the event of an emergency, the channel will start the emergency plan at the first time, send reporters to the scene, and take various ways such as on-site connection to present emergency disposal work. Zhi Yong, director of Shandong Traffic Broadcasting, introduced that in the emergency rescue of typhoon "fireworks" transiting Shandong and the "8.20" coal dust explosion accident of Liangbaosi Energy Co., Ltd. in Jining City, there were reporters squatting for 24 hours.
In January 2021, Shandong Traffic Radio reporters broadcast live coverage of the gold mine explosion accident that occurred in Qixia City to the audience through the radio
In January 2021, an explosion occurred at a gold mine in Qixia City, Shandong Province. After receiving the notice, the Shandong Traffic Radio reporter arrived at the scene for the first time, obtained the latest authoritative information, and informed netizens and listeners of the accident situation and rescue progress through the on-site connection. "Our first priority on the scene is not to add chaos to the rescue work, but also to obtain specific information and provide the latest and most authoritative information to the outside world." Shandong traffic radio reporter said.
Staying on the scene for more than ten consecutive days and transmitting messages through broadcasting, video and other ways, Shandong Emergency Broadcasting once again practiced the purpose of "usual service and sudden emergency response" and defended the timeliness and professional lifeline of emergency broadcasting.
Many obstacles remain in the "last mile"
In recent years, under the guidance of the "Opinions" and "Measures", all localities have actively promoted the construction of local emergency broadcasting systems, and some provinces have taken the lead in exploring the establishment of a relatively complete emergency broadcasting system in the province.
The "Measures" pointed out that it is necessary to effectively give play to the advantages of the "last mile" of emergency broadcasting and improve the scientificity, accuracy and effectiveness of emergency broadcasting. However, the reporter found in the interview that there are still many obstacles to the emergency broadcasting "last mile".
In some places, there is a phenomenon of imperfect mechanism and unsmooth collaboration, and there is a lack of large-scale, systematic and process-oriented emergency broadcast response channels. Emergency broadcasting systems are relatively isolated and have no uniform standards. "The construction of emergency broadcasting in our county is led by the radio and television department, and we do not know much about the specific situation." The relevant staff of a county emergency management bureau revealed to reporters that the construction of emergency broadcasting is complicated, and due to different affiliations, emergency management departments rarely participate.
In the 2021 Henan rainstorm event, although the local meteorological bureau continuously issued a red warning of heavy rain, many netizens said afterwards that they "do not know what the red warning of heavy rain means" and "do not understand the concept of more than 100 mm of rainfall in 3 hours". For frequent SMS reminders, Ms. Wang, a citizen of Zhengzhou, said that it is easy to cause visual fatigue.
"The affiliations and operating models of local institutions are different, and it is difficult to coordinate and promote emergency broadcasting." Chen An believes that at the end of emergency information release, there is still a contradiction between the internal broadcast management regulations of the radio and television industry and the requirements of emergency broadcasting work, and there are still institutional barriers to automatic insertion and compulsory insertion of major emergencies. The Internet industry, audio-visual new media companies, etc. lack mechanism guarantees for providing emergency broadcasting services, and different departments have different understandings of public welfare services, so there is greater resistance to promotion.
In the construction and development, what are the specific problems faced by rural emergency broadcasting? According to the relevant person in charge of the Culture, Radio, Television and Tourism Bureau of Nanchong City, Sichuan Province, first, the emergency broadcast has not been effectively covered, and some townships and villages have not yet built a broadcast front-end, or have failed to cover all the villagers' residences. Second, there is still a phenomenon of poor interconnection in emergency broadcasting, individual county-level emergency broadcasting platforms have not yet been built, and some county-level emergency broadcasting platforms and township-level and village-level front-ends urgently need to be upgraded.
"The construction of county-level emergency broadcasting platforms and village-level front-ends, platforms and equipment upgrades require huge financial support." Some localities have underdeveloped economies and tight finances, and they still need to solve the problem of funds. The above-mentioned person in charge said.
In recent years, Yongjia County, Zhejiang Province, has launched a large-scale urban village transformation work, which has a greater impact on the coverage of emergency broadcasting in urban areas. According to statistics, by the end of 2020, due to the comprehensive improvement of the environment in small towns and the transformation of urban villages, the actual available broadcasting sound columns in the county are 1851, and some areas even have the phenomenon of "returning to blindness".
In the early days of the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia epidemic in 2020, according to the requirements of relevant departments, Yongjia County's rural emergency broadcasting adopted a high-volume, all-weather policy publicity model. Because when interstitial emergency information is broadcast, the maximum volume is automatically used, which has triggered a large number of complaints and damage from the masses. The relevant person in charge of the Yongjia County Emergency Management Bureau said that in the end, only different volumes can be set for different broadcast sound posts, and for individual broadcast sound columns that have been repeatedly complained about, they can only be set to a silent state, and the function of daily policy publicity is greatly limited.
Due to the limited ability to guarantee financial funds, the Yongjia County Emergency Broadcasting Platform, built in 2016, only set up broadcasting rooms at the county and township levels, and village-level organizations and villagers feel that the correlation between emergency broadcasting and production and life is not high. At the same time, when townships need to release information to villages, they often don't know who to look for.
"At present, there is still a big gap between the construction of the emergency broadcasting system and the requirements of the central government and the planning goals, the institutional mechanism funding guarantee is insufficient, the network construction in various places is uneven, the various levels cannot achieve interconnection, the legal and policy level support is not enough, and the coordination and communication with relevant departments is not perfect." Wang Yu said that in addition, emergency information collection and dissemination, equipment and channel maintenance, etc., are all problems that plague the heads of emergency channels.
The solution of the problem requires the participation of the whole society
The "Measures" pointed out that it is necessary to follow the principles of overall planning, unified standards, hierarchical responsibility, top-down penetration, comprehensive coverage, safety and reliability, adapting to local conditions, precision and efficiency, accelerate the construction of emergency broadcasting system, and improve the efficiency of emergency broadcasting services.
"To achieve the goal of emergency broadcast public services, it is necessary to break down institutional barriers and let emergency information reach the public as quickly as possible." Chen An believes that the problems facing the emergency broadcasting work at this stage need to be continuously explored and solved in the practice exploration, and such exploration and practice require the joint participation of the whole society.
Create an emergency broadcasting platform for interconnection and information sharing. Just as the current emergency broadcasting system structure is a four-level system of national, provincial, municipal and county, when carrying out the construction of emergency broadcasting systems in megacities or large cities, we should make full use of new technologies, integrate data resources, and build an interconnected and information-sharing urban emergency broadcasting platform to provide scientific and technological guarantees for the rapid and sustainable development of cities.
Ensure the authority of emergency broadcast messages, and strengthen the control of emergency public opinion. On the one hand, it is necessary to expand the source channels of information, on the other hand, it is necessary to control the reliability of the message and ensure the authority of the emergency broadcast message.
Make full use of radio and television networks and strive to achieve no dead-end coverage of the network. On the one hand, strengthen the coverage capacity of radio and television networks, the construction of two-way networks, and the construction of mobile transportation networks. On the other hand, it makes full use of the characteristics of the current radio and television network with high coverage and multiple transmission means to realize the coordinated work and scheduling of various networks in emergency situations.
Make full use of high and new technologies to complete the intelligence of urban emergency broadcasting. Combined with the development of high and new technologies such as big data and smart cities in cities, as well as the development of new technologies such as networks and mobile apps, we will expand the ability to collect, disseminate, respond to and quickly recover emergency broadcast messages, and provide a unified, safe and timely information transmission channel for the safe operation of cities and emergency handling.
Make the most of the existing broadcast television infrastructure and avoid duplication of investment. All kinds of infrastructure in the city have developed and built rapidly, and they have already equipped various types of broadcasting systems, urban screen systems, mobile radio and television systems, and various new media technologies, and should make full use of the existing various radio and television systems when carrying out urban emergency broadcasting construction.
Guaranteed safety and reliability. The construction of the urban emergency broadcasting system will involve the docking with external public networks or private networks, and at least the integrity and reliability of emergency broadcast messages should be guaranteed during the transmission of emergency broadcasting networks.
At present, the promulgation of documents such as the "Opinions" and the "Measures" has promoted the emergency broadcasting work to gradually embark on the track of institutionalization. Chen An believes that the next step is to formulate more specific and feasible laws and regulations at the implementation level, innovate the emergency broadcasting service mechanism, become the "backbone media" in emergency communication, serve the construction of the mainland's new modern governance system, and achieve the goal of coordinated social governance and the protection of people's lives and property.
Source: China Emergency Management Newspaper Responsible Editor: Xiao Yanpeng
Author: Reporter Liu Zhaoyu Correspondent Zhang Xiaoming Zhang Yajiao (Correspondents He Zongzhou and Luo Qiufei also contributed to this article)
China Emergency Management News New Media Center Editor: Dong Chen