Emergency Managers Need to Use the Internet, Study Says

A new study from the University of Kansas says state emergency management agencies are not using the myriad Internet-based resources available to help communicate with the public in crises.

In an article on the NBC Action News website, Shellie Nelson says the study, titled “Untapped Potential: Evaluating State Emergency Management Web Sites 2008,” looked at 51 emergency management agency web sites, including all 50 states and the District of Columbia. It found that state emergency management agency sites place more emphasis on reaching first-responders than on reaching citizens or news outlets.

“Although 80 percent of online survey respondents indicated that residents of their state were the primary audiences of emergency management agency Web sites, the most-frequently found feature on their Web sites was first responder/emergency manager training information,” Nelson says.

“I hope this report will spark serious discussions nationwide about the role of Internet communication before, during and following crisis situations,” David W. Guth, associate professor of journalism, who wrote the study, told Nelson. “The purpose of this research is not so much to criticize state EMA officials as it is to shed light upon practices that can help them fulfill the public safety mission to which they have dedicated themselves.”

Guth also told Nelson, “While traditional mass communication media will continue to play a vital role in the near future, the evidence suggests that emergency planners should place the Internet and emerging social media on an equal footing.”