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Protect Emergency Captioning!
By advocacy | August 16, 2006
[gv data=”http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docid=4654615300583425829″ width=”320″ height=”255″][/gv]
(Editor’s Note: The captioned version of this video will be available next week)
Draft script for video:
Hello, my name is Frank Bowe. I am a government affairs consultant for the National Association of the Deaf (NAD).
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) recently distributed a “Clarification†about a requirement for TV stations to caption emergency information. Emergency information is important information such as an emergency notice that a hurricane or tornado on its way to you— or an alert about a terrorist attack.
The FCC said TV stations in big cities do not have to caption emergency information as long as they try—and that the FCC will not question TV stations if they say that they could not provide captions. This clarification was horrible. The FCC bowed to TV companies.
Do you trust TV stations to “try†to provide captions? I don’t!
Emergency information means…what? An emergency is happening! The NAD fought hard for 100% captioning—and now the FCC wants to change the rule!
Are you going to accept that? The NAD isn’t accepting that!
Fortunately, the NAD immediately challenged the Commission’s “clarificationâ€. This week the NAD, joined by other national consumer advocacy organizations, filed an official request that the FCC withdraw its “Clarificationâ€. We are tired of TV stations that fail to provide visual information about floods, tornadoes, blackouts, hurricanes and other emergencies.
The NAD also said in its request that the FCC did not follow required procedures when they changed the rules! They hoped you and I wouldn’t notice that they changed the rules!
Fortunately, the NAD noticed! And we are mad!
The NAD needs you to send comments to the FCC to tell them your thoughts on their decision.
Go to:
http://www.nad.org/fccemergencyclarification
The NAD suggests that you tell the FCC three things in this form:
- What they did on emergency captioning was wrong
- All emergency information must be captioned with no exceptions
- Support the NAD comments on this important issue.
Emergency information must be accessible. Period!
Let’s work together to make it happen!
___
Update: September 13, 2006, please click on the link below to read the NAD application for review of the emergency captioning “clarification”:
Application for Review (PDF Document)
Topics: General |