If you are interested in helping improve captioning in Australia,
maybe you could look into providing a submission for the to review of
Commercial Television Industry Code of Practice. I have already sent
one!
See details below.
Cheers,
Kate
--------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------
Dear all,
Media Access Australia (MAA) encourages you, as people who are Deaf or
hearing impaired or their representatives, to make a submission to
Free TV Australia’s review of the Commercial Television Industry Code
of Practice.
You may find that subsection 1.23 (based on numbering in the proposed,
amended code) on Closed Captioning for Hearing Impaired and Deaf
People and Section 7 on Handling of Complaints is relevant to you.
You may also wish to consider the following points suggested by MAA in
your submission:
* Television broadcasting licensees should make all information that
is essential to the understanding of a program accessible to viewers
through closed captioning;
* Licensees should promote closed captioning through all the
communication channels in their control. This includes all station
program guides including electronic program guides, all program
promotions and at the start of the all programs where closed
captioning is provided;
* Licensees must make emergency, disaster and safety announcements
fully accessible. They must take all possible preparations for
providing essential information visually during broadcasting
emergency, disaster or safety announcements.
* The “whenever practicable” approach to accessible announcements
places the lives and interests of people with hearing impairments at
risk. In the United States, the Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) requires that Licensees undertake extensive preparation, hire
necessary service providers, create procedures and train staff to
anticipate the need to closed caption all essential information; and
* Currently, there is insufficient transparency in the system. It
is difficult for consumers and their representatives to know whether
broadcasting licensees are meeting their accessibility and related
obligations under the Code of Practice. Licensees should submit
regular reports to ACMA detailing their compliance, or otherwise, with
these obligations. This is the system in place in both the UK and the
US.
MAA also suggests that you consider the comparable United Kingdom and
United States approaches to television accessibility. This includes
the Ofcom Code on Television Access Services and the US approach to
Closed Captioning of Video Programming and the Accessibility of
Programming Providing Emergency Information.
In your submission, you should include:
* Information about you or the people you represent and what your
interest is in access to television services;
* Information about how you, or the people you represent, benefit
from accessible features on television;
* Information that is relevant to your situation. Not every
section of the Code will be relevant to you and you need only comment
on the sections which you feel are relevant; and
* Personal and real life experiences, which are very important
components of access. Not everybody is expected to focus on costs,
statistics and technical issues. Human consequences of access, or
otherwise, are equally valid and valuable.
You must complete and send your submissions to Free TV Australia by no
later than 5:00pm on Friday 25 September 2009 by post to 44 Avenue
Road, Mosman NSW 2088, fax to (02) 9969 3520 or email to
c...@freetv.com.au
MAA is also happy to help you with specific factual information,
including the Australian Code and approaches in comparable television
markets.
If you have further questions about the submission, please feel free
to contact me.
Best Regards,
Alan Hui
Policy and Research Coordinator
Media Access Australia
4.08, 22-36 Mountain St
Ultimo NSW 2007
Ph/TTY: (02) 9212 6242
Fax: (02) 9212 6289
alan....@mediaaccess.org.au
www.mediaaccess.org.au
On Fri, Sep 11, 2009 at 2:54 PM, Kate Locke <kate.lo...@zurich.com.au>
wrote:
Regarding:
subsection 1.23 on Closed Captioning for Hearing Impaired and Deaf
People, and
Section 7 on Handling of Complaints
Dear Free TV Australia,
I would like to submit my view of what should be considered in the
review of the Commercial Television Industry Code of Practice.
I am a university educated professional, I live in Sydney, and I have
the latest digital television at home, as well as a set top box, and
digital recorder. I could be described as being part of Generation X &
Y, web and technology savvy. I work in the online industry as an
Online Content Manager.
I am also deaf, and wear a hearing aid, a cochlear implant, and I lip-
read.
I can't access television unless there are closed captions or
subtitles on all programs.
The worst thing for me regarding my hearing loss, is coming home from
a hard day at work, or waking up late one night, and thinking: "All I
want to do is watch something interesting on TV." and then switching
on the box, and finding, yes, there IS something interesting on TV,
but ... it doesn't have captions. It means that I can't watch it. For
a person with normal hearing, my experience is akin to them sitting
there with the sound turned down just enough to make it
unintelligible.
It is frustrating, and it makes me angry that we don't have
enforceable legislation stating that captioning should be used 24
hours a day.
The current state of captioning in Australia is well behind other
countries in the West, such as the US, the UK, and many countries in
Europe.
There are 1.6 million people in Australia that have some form of
hearing loss, and therefore might benefit from captions.
The best thing that has happened for me in this area is the creation
of Media Access Australia (MAA), who acts as a conduit so I can voice
my frustrations to the TV stations, by complaining via online
complaint forms. Before the MAA, you had to post a form in the mail
direct to the TV station, and it was time-consuming, and no one ever
replied, unless it was with a generic, bland response. They basically
ignored you.
So, MAA has improved the way I can complain about captions to the TV
stations.
However, I still don't think enough of the TV stations respond
appropriately. They only make an effort to respond if the captioning
complaint is about something covered by legislation.
One of the consequences of not being able to access television, is
social exclusion. At work, school, university, people discuss popular
media, and one element of that is television, what shows they have
watched and so on. To have to say to someone "I didn't see that
because it wasn't captioned" seems to me to be very unfair in the
scheme of things. I haven't done anything wrong. All I did was grow up
with ears that didn't work that well!
Also, imagine this - when I was at university, everyone would have
movie sessions, where we would settle down to watch the weekly movie
on someone's TV, either at night or during the day. Sometimes, the
movies did not have captions, so I used to either suffer through a
film where I didn't know what was going on, or go and sit alone in my
room and read a book while they watched.
Have you ever felt what it is like to hear laughing in the other room
while you sit on your own, wishing you could join in?
Thankfully, all my family and friends now completely boycott a channel
when the movie or show we were going to watch doesn't have captions.
So, I would like to request that the following be taken into account
when updating the Code:
1. Television broadcasting licensees should make all information that
is essential to the understanding of a program accessible to viewers
through closed captioning;
2. Licensees should promote closed captioning through all the
communication channels in their control. This includes all station
program guides including electronic program guides, all program
promotions and at the start of the all programs where closed
captioning is provided;
3. Licensees must make emergency, disaster and safety announcements
fully accessible. They must take all possible preparations for
providing essential information visually during broadcasting
emergency, disaster or safety announcements.
4. The whenever practicable approach to accessible announcements
places the lives and interests of people with hearing impairments at
risk. In the United States, the Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) requires that Licensees undertake extensive preparation, hire
necessary service providers, create procedures and train staff to
anticipate the need to closed caption all essential information; and
5. Currently, there is insufficient transparency in the system. It is
difficult for consumers and their representatives to know whether
broadcasting licensees are meeting their accessibility and related
obligations under the Code of Practice. Licensees should submit
regular reports to ACMA detailing their compliance, or otherwise, with
these obligations. This is the system in place in both the UK and the
US.
Thanks for reading this, and I truly hope you guys will really take
into account how this affects the many people out there who can't hear
as well as others. After all, we may be a minority, but we still make
up a significant percentage of free TV audiences.
Kind regards,
Kate Locke
On Sep 11, 3:15 pm, Kate <kate.lo...@gmail.com> wrote:
> If you are interested in helping improve captioning in Australia,
> maybe you could look into providing a submission for the to review of
> Commercial Television Industry Code of Practice. I have already sent
> one!
> See details below.
> Cheers,
> Kate
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------
> Dear all,
> Media Access Australia (MAA) encourages you, as people who are Deaf or
> hearing impaired or their representatives, to make a submission to
> Free TV Australia’s review of the Commercial Television Industry Code
> of Practice.
> You may find that subsection 1.23 (based on numbering in the proposed,
> amended code) on Closed Captioning for Hearing Impaired and Deaf
> People and Section 7 on Handling of Complaints is relevant to you.
> You may also wish to consider the following points suggested by MAA in
> your submission:
> * Television broadcasting licensees should make all information that
> is essential to the understanding of a program accessible to viewers
> through closed captioning;
> * Licensees should promote closed captioning through all the
> communication channels in their control. This includes all station
> program guides including electronic program guides, all program
> promotions and at the start of the all programs where closed
> captioning is provided;
> * Licensees must make emergency, disaster and safety announcements
> fully accessible. They must take all possible preparations for
> providing essential information visually during broadcasting
> emergency, disaster or safety announcements.
> * The “whenever practicable” approach to accessible announcements
> places the lives and interests of people with hearing impairments at
> risk. In the United States, the Federal Communications Commission
> (FCC) requires that Licensees undertake extensive preparation, hire
> necessary service providers, create procedures and train staff to
> anticipate the need to closed caption all essential information; and
> * Currently, there is insufficient transparency in the system. It
> is difficult for consumers and their representatives to know whether
> broadcasting licensees are meeting their accessibility and related
> obligations under the Code of Practice. Licensees should submit
> regular reports to ACMA detailing their compliance, or otherwise, with
> these obligations. This is the system in place in both the UK and the
> US.
> MAA also suggests that you consider the comparable United Kingdom and
> United States approaches to television accessibility. This includes
> the Ofcom Code on Television Access Services and the US approach to
> Closed Captioning of Video Programming and the Accessibility of
> Programming Providing Emergency Information.
> In your submission, you should include:
> * Information about you or the people you represent and what your
> interest is in access to television services;
> * Information about how you, or the people you represent, benefit
> from accessible features on television;
> * Information that is relevant to your situation. Not every
> section of the Code will be relevant to you and you need only comment
> on the sections which you feel are relevant; and
> * Personal and real life experiences, which are very important
> components of access. Not everybody is expected to focus on costs,
> statistics and technical issues. Human consequences of access, or
> otherwise, are equally valid and valuable.
> You must complete and send your submissions to Free TV Australia by no
> later than 5:00pm on Friday 25 September 2009 by post to 44 Avenue
> Road, Mosman NSW 2088, fax to (02) 9969 3520 or email to
> c...@freetv.com.au
> MAA is also happy to help you with specific factual information,
> including the Australian Code and approaches in
-----Original Message-----
From: shhhgroups@googlegroups.com [mailto:shhhgroups@googlegroups.com] On
Behalf Of Kate
Sent: Friday, 11 September 2009 3:52 PM
To: SHHH Support Group (Self Help for Hard of Hearing People)
Subject: {SHHH Support Group} Re: Help improve captioning on TV in
Australia!
On Fri, Sep 11, 2009 at 2:54 PM, Kate Locke <kate.lo...@zurich.com.au>
wrote:
Regarding:
subsection 1.23 on Closed Captioning for Hearing Impaired and Deaf People,
and Section 7 on Handling of Complaints
Dear Free TV Australia,
I would like to submit my view of what should be considered in the review of
the Commercial Television Industry Code of Practice.
I am a university educated professional, I live in Sydney, and I have the
latest digital television at home, as well as a set top box, and digital
recorder. I could be described as being part of Generation X & Y, web and
technology savvy. I work in the online industry as an Online Content
Manager.
I am also deaf, and wear a hearing aid, a cochlear implant, and I lip- read.
I can't access television unless there are closed captions or subtitles on
all programs.
The worst thing for me regarding my hearing loss, is coming home from a hard
day at work, or waking up late one night, and thinking: "All I want to do is
watch something interesting on TV." and then switching on the box, and
finding, yes, there IS something interesting on TV, but ... it doesn't have
captions. It means that I can't watch it. For a person with normal hearing,
my experience is akin to them sitting there with the sound turned down just
enough to make it unintelligible.
It is frustrating, and it makes me angry that we don't have enforceable
legislation stating that captioning should be used 24 hours a day.
The current state of captioning in Australia is well behind other countries
in the West, such as the US, the UK, and many countries in Europe.
There are 1.6 million people in Australia that have some form of hearing
loss, and therefore might benefit from captions.
The best thing that has happened for me in this area is the creation of
Media Access Australia (MAA), who acts as a conduit so I can voice my
frustrations to the TV stations, by complaining via online complaint forms.
Before the MAA, you had to post a form in the mail direct to the TV station,
and it was time-consuming, and no one ever replied, unless it was with a
generic, bland response. They basically ignored you.
So, MAA has improved the way I can complain about captions to the TV
stations.
However, I still don't think enough of the TV stations respond
appropriately. They only make an effort to respond if the captioning
complaint is about something covered by legislation.
One of the consequences of not being able to access television, is social
exclusion. At work, school, university, people discuss popular media, and
one element of that is television, what shows they have watched and so on.
To have to say to someone "I didn't see that because it wasn't captioned"
seems to me to be very unfair in the scheme of things. I haven't done
anything wrong. All I did was grow up with ears that didn't work that well!
Also, imagine this - when I was at university, everyone would have movie
sessions, where we would settle down to watch the weekly movie on someone's
TV, either at night or during the day. Sometimes, the movies did not have
captions, so I used to either suffer through a film where I didn't know what
was going on, or go and sit alone in my room and read a book while they
watched.
Have you ever felt what it is like to hear laughing in the other room while
you sit on your own, wishing you could join in?
Thankfully, all my family and friends now completely boycott a channel when
the movie or show we were going to watch doesn't have captions.
So, I would like to request that the following be taken into account when
updating the Code:
1. Television broadcasting licensees should make all information that
is essential to the understanding of a program accessible to viewers through
closed captioning;
2. Licensees should promote closed captioning through all the
communication channels in their control. This includes all station program
guides including electronic program guides, all program promotions and at
the start of the all programs where closed captioning is provided;
3. Licensees must make emergency, disaster and safety announcements
fully accessible. They must take all possible preparations for providing
essential information visually during broadcasting emergency, disaster or
safety announcements.
4. The whenever practicable approach to accessible announcements
places the lives and interests of people with hearing impairments at risk.
In the United States, the Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) requires that Licensees undertake extensive preparation, hire
necessary service providers, create procedures and train staff to anticipate
the need to closed caption all essential information; and
5. Currently, there is insufficient transparency in the system. It is
difficult for consumers and their representatives to know whether
broadcasting licensees are meeting their accessibility and related
obligations under the Code of Practice. Licensees should submit regular
reports to ACMA detailing their compliance, or otherwise, with these
obligations. This is the system in place in both the UK and the US.
Thanks for reading this, and I truly hope you guys will really take into
account how this affects the many people out there who can't hear as well as
others. After all, we may be a minority, but we still make up a significant
percentage of free TV audiences.
Kind regards,
Kate Locke
On Sep 11, 3:15 pm, Kate <kate.lo...@gmail.com> wrote:
> If you are interested in helping improve captioning in Australia, > maybe you could look into providing a submission for the to review of > Commercial Television Industry Code of Practice. I have already sent > one!
> See details below.
> Cheers,
> Kate
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> -------------------------
> Dear all,
> Media Access Australia (MAA) encourages you, as people who are Deaf or > hearing impaired or their representatives, to make a submission to > Free TV Australia’s review of the Commercial Television Industry Code > of Practice.
> You may wish to consider
> * the existing Code of Practice (http://www.freetv.com.au/media/ > Code_of_Practice/Revised_Code_of_Practice_
> (including_amendment_for_freeview_clause)_241108.pdf),
> * the amended Code proposed by Free TV Australia
> You may find that subsection 1.23 (based on numbering in the proposed, > amended code) on Closed Captioning for Hearing Impaired and Deaf > People and Section 7 on Handling of Complaints is relevant to you.
> You may also wish to consider the following points suggested by MAA in > your submission:
> * Television broadcasting licensees should make all information that > is essential to the understanding of a program accessible to viewers > through closed captioning;
> * Licensees should promote closed captioning through all the > communication channels in their control. This includes all station > program guides including electronic program guides, all program > promotions and at the start of the all programs where closed > captioning is provided;
> * Licensees must make emergency, disaster and safety announcements > fully accessible. They must take all possible preparations for > providing essential information visually during broadcasting > emergency, disaster or safety announcements.
> * The “whenever practicable” approach to accessible announcements > places the lives and interests of people with hearing impairments at > risk. In the United States, the Federal Communications Commission
> (FCC) requires that Licensees undertake extensive preparation, hire > necessary service providers, create procedures and train staff to > anticipate the need to closed caption all essential information; and
> * Currently, there is insufficient transparency in the system. It > is difficult for consumers and their representatives to know whether > broadcasting licensees are meeting their accessibility and related > obligations under the Code of Practice. Licensees should submit > regular reports to ACMA detailing their compliance, or otherwise, with > these obligations. This is the system in place in both the UK and the > US.
> MAA also suggests that you consider the comparable United Kingdom and > United States approaches to television accessibility. This includes > the Ofcom Code on Television Access Services and the US approach to > Closed Captioning of Video Programming and the Accessibility of > Programming Providing Emergency Information.
> In your submission, you should include:
> * Information about you or the people you represent and what your > interest is in access to television services;
> * Information about how you, or the people you represent, benefit
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