Why Complain? Because It Works!

June 2002

Editor: Here's an article from Diane Edge (deaf_advocate@hotmail.com) about one of her recent endeavors. Her complaints to local TV stations about lack of emergency captioning resulted in one of the stations taking measures to ensure future emergency captioning. At the end of this article is a short form she created to allow YOU to complain to the FCC when you notice captioning problems.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Anyone who is dependent on captions realizes how much information normally occurs during an emergency. The World Trade Center and Pentagon immediately come to mind, while locally in Southern Maryland the news coverage of the F5 Tornado that devastated Southern Maryland had little or no captioning coverage.

As a resident of Southern Maryland and also dependent on captioning, I promptly took the initiative to find out what I can do to complain about this. This time the events were happening to me and quite frankly I was mad.

I filed complaints against WUSA-TV, WJLA-TV, WRC-TV, NewsChannel 8 and Fox 5 with the Federal Communication Commission. [FCC# 02-N-72666]

To date, News Channel 8 replies that I should have been able to understand what was going on by watching the video pictures even though they didn't provide captioning for the story of the tornado. After all a video picture is good enough - always accurate according to NewsChannel 8. In fact, they don't even caption their weather & traffic reports because they are sooo good at their visuals. Also, as a deaf person, I should thank them because even if they didn't caption the LaPlata tornado story - I should be satisfied because the following storyline about Chandra Levy was indeed captioned... (if you understand their interpretation.... please clue me in !)

Ironically, WUSA-TV readily admits that there was no captioning for a "promotional" 15 second spot that showed video coverage. The promo contained footage of fireman and lighting strikes, which were to update viewers on the lives of some St. Alban students that had been struck by lighting several years before. Since this was only three days after the tornado hit La Plata, MD, WUSA-TV says that I mistakenly assumed that this information was related to the tornado incident. {Silly me to get that all mixed up - maybe WUSA and NewsChannel 8 can get together and we get one complete program with visuals and captions).

However, one bright spot arrived with a letter from Fox 5!!! Molly Pauker, Vice
President - Corporate and Legal Affairs sent a letter stating that Fox 5 investigation found that the power shortages from the storm on April 29,2002 between 9:56 PM and 10:21 PM did in fact occur. They found that while their captioning company in Colorado was indeed transmitting the signal, back at the station it was not received. A WTTG technician on duty in Master Control reset the caption encoder.

However, Fox 5 has decided to minimize disruption to closed captions in the future for its viewers. WTTG will place its closed caption encoder on an uninterruptible power source. According to their letter to the FCC, this should virtually eliminate situations in which the main transmitter's automatic switchover to its backup generator causes the caption encoder to malfunction. Moreover, the Master Control technicians will be instructed to monitor closed captions frequently during threatening weather, so that, if for some other reason weather conditions caption encoder malfunctions, the situation can be taken care of as soon as possible.

I appreciate that someone took the time to acknowledge the problem and actually worked towards a solution. The rest of the media could be well advised to stop sweeping things under the rug and actually work like Fox Television has done. KUDOS to Fox!

Why complain? Because it works!

----

Here's Diane's form. Use it as a model for YOUR complaint!

Regular Mail to:
FCC
445 12th St SW
Washington, DC 20554
or email to: FCCTSR15@fcc.gov
Federal Communications Commission (FCC)

CLOSED CAPTIONING COMPLAINT: FAILURE TO PROVIDE CAPTIONINGS

Date:
Time:
Television Station:

Event:
On the above dates and times I turned on the television to watch (whatever); however, I was unable to follow this program because the show was not captioned. I am deaf and therefore am dependent on captions to keep myself informed. I was denied equal access of the information. This is an ongoing problem that must be corrected at once.

Name:
Address:
Email:
Phone: