02.10.08
Not ready for prime time
This morning I attempted to “watch” two video stories (called “podcasts”), one on the New York Times and one on Salon.com. The former had interesting footage of New York City’s Pakistani newspapers and the latter was Joan Walsh’s take on “Which Democrat can beat McCain”?
But I could make head nor tail of either — because there was no captioning or text to help me or other deaf people follow the audio.
Every broadcast television news operation in the country uses closed captions. It’s the law. Sooner or later the law probably will extend to Internet news operations, at least domestic ones, but I’ve seen not one glimmering of a voluntary step on the part of Internet news and opinion providers — even the liberal ones you’d think would be in the forefront of the movement.
Deaf people take captioning seriously. So much so, in fact, that the grassroots of deaf culture are rumbling with anger over less than half the Super Bowl commercials being closed captioned. It’s a matter of equal access to information, say those who feel strongly about it. The more practical, like me, wonder why energy should be expended to make it easier for salesmen to get inside our houses and huckster stuff we don’t need.
Perhaps proper access to news, however, is something we can all agree on. And until Salon and Slate and the Times and everybody else start providing captions for their news and opinion podcasts, the Internet is not yet serving everyone fairly.
anon said,
February 10, 2008 at 7:14 am
You handicapped folks are always wanting entitlements. Where will it end?
Henry said,
February 10, 2008 at 8:06 am
Anon, did somebody send you over from the Ron Paul campaign headquarters?
Jan Herman said,
February 10, 2008 at 8:34 am
You ought to send your blogpost to Salon, Slate and the Times. Or maybe better, send it the letters-to-the-editor at the Times. Come to think of it, you should probably turn it into an op-ed column. If the Time doesn’t take it, someone else would. No? And you’d be getting paid.
Henry said,
February 10, 2008 at 11:36 am
Jan, that’s a hell of a good idea — but the newspapers won’t look at expanded blog entries for op-ed pieces. Been there. I could try it as a letter to the editor, though. Thanks for the idea.
Jan Herman said,
February 10, 2008 at 12:50 pm
Henry — Por nada. I hope you DO try to get your point across to the folks who can do something about the problem, cuz the Internet has already gone heavily to video, as everyone knows. One fear I have, in fact, is that one day video will so completely overwhelm text on the Internet that it will take us straight back to TV land. Aaarrgghhhh.
Henry said,
February 10, 2008 at 2:34 pm
OK, Jan, I’ve sent letters to both the Times and Salon.com. We’ll see what happens now. I’m not holding my breath, though.
Jan Herman said,
February 10, 2008 at 4:35 pm
Not holding your breath, eh? Is that the realist in you, Henry, or the cynic?
Someone I know keeps count of his letters to the Times editor that made it into print — 17, he tells me — and considers that one of his life’s accomplishments. Sad.
Jan Herman said,
February 13, 2008 at 9:07 pm
PS: In case The New York Times or Slate doesn’t print your letter, have a look at Rejected Letters to the Editor.
http://www.rejectedletterstotheeditor.com/
The site says:
“Have you written a ‘letter to the editor,’ an ‘op-ed,’ or submitted a piece of artwork (op-art, cartoon, etc.) which has been rejected by a newspaper or other publication, but which you believe would enhance the quality of public awareness, discussion, and activism? We are soliciting letters, op-eds and materials like these for a unique, always evolving new publication. We are looking for materials that transcend the systemic amnesia of the daily news, and will have ongoing relevance for our readers and potential authors. The letter, op-ed or artwork need not be current, but it should still be pertinent or of historical interest.”
Henry said,
February 14, 2008 at 8:36 am
I don’t know. The Times and Salon never responded, and it’s Valentine’s Day, not a time to be suffering from feelings of rejection.
By the way, the Lady Friend insisted we do our income taxes today, Valentine’s Day. I cannot imagine a less appropriate day for that!
paula said,
February 14, 2008 at 10:37 pm
The Times uncaptioned vlog that irritates me the most is David Pogue’s. He does very clever videos on technology. If anyone should understand the issues related to captioning, he’d be the one. I have written to him MANY times about captioning his videos, but so far… nothing.
Henry said,
February 15, 2008 at 5:43 am
The problem, I think, is that most of the media thinks of the deaf world as a tiny and economically insignificant fringe culture. It will probably take an act of Congress, as it did with broadcast video captioning, to entice the Internet to follow through.
We should probably be writing our congressmen and senators about this.