Closed Captions Watch

Did AMC TV Finally Listen?

2012-02-12T20:14:00.001-05:00

Right now I am watching AMC's Walking Dead marathon. I am very pleased with the fact that none of the curse words or inappropriate language that can be heard are censored in the closed captions. I am hoping that they are no longer censoring just the captions on their other television shows as well. I hope this isn't just a fluke and that on Season 3 of Walking Dead, premiering tonight, they will not go back to only censoring the language used in the captions, but not the audio portion.

In the past, AMC TV censored only the closed captions but not the audio on shows like Breaking Bad, Mad Men, Hell On Wheels, and Walking Dead. While some profanity could be clearly heard, they were censored in the captions.

Here are some examples:

After receiving many complaints from me and several others (THANKS!), maybe AMC finally listened? I hope so. We'll have to see.

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CNN Sued For Lack of Captioning For Online Videos

2012-02-07T06:08:00.000-05:00

According to the San Francisco Chronicle's article, a lawyer for CNN said that they acted within their "free-speech rights" when they chose not to use closed-captioning technology for online videos.

What they don't seem to understand is that they did not act within their free speech rights, they violated equal access laws. It's about equal access. Deaf and hard of hearing viewers should not be intentionally left out.

It's 2012, people. How hard can it be to provide captioned online videos? Think about how much more viewers they would attract to their website if they include captioned videos.

FCC Releases Internet Captioning Rules

2012-01-19T05:19:00.003-05:00

About time! I guess we don't have to keep sending out numerous emails to television networks to provide captioned online videos anymore. Interesting to see what happens.

NAD article:
http://www.nad.org/news/2012/1/fcc-releases-internet-protocol-captioning-rules

Full FCC report:
http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2012/db0113/FCC-12-9A1.pdf

Video Clips of Censored Captions

2012-01-15T12:34:00.000-05:00

Letter to Lifetime TV Networks

2012-01-14T11:50:00.001-05:00

I wrote an email to Lifetime television network for not providing the option of closed captions or subtitles for their online videos using Lipreading Mom Internet Captions Campaign's template.

Dear Lifetime,

As followers with hearing loss, we are writing to express concern about the lack of captions with your online videos on myLifetime.com.

On several occasions, we have wanted to watch online broadcasts on your website, only to be unable to understand the information you present due to lack of captions.

With the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reporting that 34 million U.S. adults have hearing loss, it would be in your network’s best interest to provide captioned streaming as a way to appeal to this large group of potential viewers. Imagine the level of support and PR your network and site would receive if you launched captioned Internet broadcasts to appeal to this large portion of the U.S. population.

We welcome your thoughts and will be following up with you on behalf of the millions of Americans with hearing loss.

Respectfully,

Elizabeth and Lipreading Mom Internet Captions Campaign

To contact Lifetime about closed captioning please go here. Or call Viewer Relations at 212-424-7122.

*Feedback thing does not seem to work at the moment. I just called and left a message with Viewer Relations.

Reader's Email to AMC TV

2012-01-11T20:46:00.001-05:00

To Whom It May Concern,

I am a deaf viewer who watches Hell On Wheels at 10:00pm EST on AMC. While I am enjoying the show and look forward to a second season, I am disappointed to see that AMC censors dialogue in its closed captioning of Hell On Wheels. Even though the profanity is audible to hearing viewers, the same words fail to show up in full in closed captioning, being reduced to only the first letters of the words. This editing is jarring in terms of censorship and disrupting the pacing of scenes, especially since the show has a lot to do with working-class communication and racial relations. This is not the first time I have seen the censorship; I recall seeing on Mad Men episodes the same kind of censorship but with a different style of editing -- writing "S@@@" in the captions, for example. I have heard that AMC does this to be more family-friendly during the daytime (I assume that the profanity is audibly censored then) and that the captions are simply copied from primetime screening to the repeat daytime screenings. I hope that AMC can be more accommodating to its deaf and hard of hearing viewers by figuring out a way to make sure that the captions can separately match the primetime screening and the daytime repeat screening. (After all, there are specific words that are later easily flagged and replaced.) AMC has a lot of content that I enjoy, and I hope that it can provide quality accommodations with their quality content.

Thanks,

<REMOVED NAME AND EMAIL>

Lipreading Mom/CCAC Internet Captions Campaign

2012-01-10T06:10:00.001-05:00

Lipreading Mom collaborated with CCAC and started the Internet Captions Campaign; requesting television networks to provide captions for their online videos.

Details are at http://LipreadingMom.com/lipreading-mom-captions-campaign.

Several network websites have been contacted, and volunteer email letter-writers are needed to keep the initiative going.

They encourage and welcome your involvement!

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Yet Another Email to AMC Networks

2012-01-03T05:53:00.000-05:00

Dear AMC Viewer Services,

As an AMC television fanwith a hearing loss, I wanted to take this opportunity to express my concernsabout how the spoken dialogue on certain AMCtelevision shows are captioned. On Hell on Wheels, certain spoken words that were heard by a typicallyhearing viewer were not included or were censored in the closed captions. For example,a character said, "All you Yankees taste like sh*t." while thecaptions read, "All you Yankees taste like trash." Several othertimes on Hell on Wheels, thetext in the captions were censored while the audio portion was not. For the most part, the word that is censoredin the captions is blanked out or displayed as the first letter of the word,such as s for the word sh*t. Here is an example from Hell on Wheels, “Why do you wanna s on my railroad.” (picture attached). This happens on other AMC television shows as well, such as Walking Dead, Mad Men, and Breaking Bad.

The resolution I am seeking is for the dialogue to match the captions. If thespoken dialogue is censored, censor it in the captions. If the spoken dialogueis not censored, don't censor it in the captions. I want to read what thehearing audience is hearing. I want it to be captioned exactly as it is spoken on all AMC televisionshows.

Please don’t leaveyour deaf and hard of hearing viewers out. With the Centersfor Disease Control and Prevention reporting that 34 million U.S. adults asdeaf or hard of hearing, it would be in AMCTV’s best interest to caption the dialogue exactly as it is spoken as a wayto appeal to this large group of potential viewers. Imagine the level ofsupport and good PR AMC TV wouldreceive if they choose to help fully resolve this issue!

Sincerely,

Elizabeth

*I will be mailing a hard copy via snail mail as well. The reason why the email is censored is because they do not accept emails with curse words in it.

Pictures of Closed Captions Censored on AMC TV's 'Hell On Wheels'

2011-12-21T10:49:00.000-05:00

While the captions were censored, the spoken dialogue was not. During the time I took the photographs, a typically hearing viewer could hear the spoken words that were censored in the captions. You can pretty much guess what they were saying, especially if you knew the context. However in the last picture, where the captions read 'S HOLE?' without knowing the story or what just happened, this could be anything. Did he say 'Asshole' or 'Shit hole'? Or did he actually say 's hole'? It's confusing.

(e

Filed a Complaint With FCC About AMC's 'Hell on Wheels'

2011-12-21T09:28:00.000-05:00

I filed another informal complaint with the FCC about how AMC TV Networks censors the language spoken in the closed captions on their television show Hell on Wheels.

I encourage anyone who cares about this to file a complaint with the FCC and to contact AMC TV.

Link to FCC complaint form: http://esupport.fcc.gov/complaints.htm

AMC TV's contact information: http://www.amctv.com/contact

My filed informal complaint to FCC:

On AMC's 'Hell on Wheels', certain spoken words that were heard by a typically hearing viewer were not included or were censored in the closed captions. For example, on 12/11/11 at 9:30 a.m. a character said, "All you Yankees taste like shit." The captions read, "All you Yankees taste like trash." Several other times on AMC's 'Hell on Wheels', the text in the captions were censored while the audio portion was not. The characters were heard saying inappropriate words such as 'shit' while the captions displayed 's' or 's@@@'.

The resolution I am seeking is for the dialogue to match the captions. If the spoken dialogue is censored, censor it in the captions. If the spoken dialogue is not censored, don't censor it in the captions. I want to read what the hearing audience is hearing. I want AMC to caption the spoken dialogue exactly as it is spoken on all of their television shows.

I prefer a representative from AMC TV to directly contact me about this issue.

Thank you,

Elizabeth

Do You Favor Captions IN CAPS?

2011-12-20T10:23:00.000-05:00

I notice that many captioned television shows and movies will be shown in caps. In other words, the text is capitalized.

Here are some examples:

From VH1. Picture taken 12/20/11 by (e.

Having the text in all caps doesn't bother me. But, I have heard from others that they dislike having all of the text in capitalized letters.

What do you think? Please participate in the poll below:

Another 'Thank You' Email to FX Networks

2011-12-19T16:36:00.000-05:00

To Whomever This May Concern:

I would like to thank those responsible for providing subtitles for webisodes, such as American Horror, on http://www.fxnetworks.com/.

I am hard of hearing and I rely on closed-captions or subtitles to help me understand what is being said in videos. It is very helpful and it is what gets me to come back and visit FX Networks' site again; knowing that the videos will be subtitled.

In addition, I am very grateful that television shows on FX, such as American Horror, caption the dialogue verbatim.

Thanks again. Keep up the good work!

Sincerely,

Elizabeth

'Thank You' Email to FX Networks

2011-12-19T16:26:00.000-05:00

I would like to thank those responsible for providing subtitles for episodes, such as 'American Horror', on http://www.fxnetworks.com/.

I am hard of hearing and I rely on closed-captions or subtitles to help me understand what is being said in videos. It is very helpful and it is what gets me to come back and visit FX Networks' site again; knowing that the videos will be subtitled.

Thanks again. Keep up the good work.

Sincerely,

Elizabeth

Writer's Take on How AMC TV Censors Closed Captions

2011-12-19T08:11:00.001-05:00

It is nice to know that I am not alone in noticing and hating the fact that AMC intentionally censors the closed captions for their hit television shows.

Look at journalist and author Joe Clark's take on the issue below. I really enjoy reading his entire article, Response to FCC Public Notice on closed captioning rules (from Joe Clark Accessibility, Design, Writing, 2010). He discusses the problems with captioning and how we should fix these problems. Included are some standards proposed for closed captioning. One of them states,

Do not censor.
- Do not alter a transcript, or refuse to transcribe, because you object; or you know that someone else objects; or you imagine or predict someone might object to the original.
- If a later edit (e.g., for syndication) removes pejoratives from audio, edit captions only then. Do not pre-censor captioning in anticipation of a cleaned-up audio edit.

Be sure to read the rest of the article here. Very interesting stuff!! This guy knows what he is talking about.

Here is an excerpt about his thoughts on AMC censoring the captions:

I blame the broadcaster, AMC, for this, because the same thing happened with its other shows, like Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead.
AMC is also guilty of a new low it can call its own: Forcing captioners to pre-censor dialogue. Even pejoratives as benign as shit, goddamn, and balls are replaced, wholly or partially, with asterisks. But AMC’s hack-job captioner is so clueless about its own medium it does not understand that * requires special handling in captioning (it’s in the extended character set at [12,28]).
Again, I’m not the only one who noticed.

Now, why did they do it? To cheap out, of course. Eventually there will be a syndication edit with cleaned-up audio, and somebody at AMC decided that even the puny 30% extra it would cost to recaption at that point was too much money to spend. Meanwhile, how much do those coveted advertising spots on Mad Men go for?

The lesson here is that NBC isn’t the only broadcaster that schemes and plots all year to wring its captioning budget dry. It’s just easier to shaft the deaf. Nobody got into this business to help cripples, did they?

(e

Email to Amazon Requesting Captioned Videos

2011-12-19T08:10:00.001-05:00

I was so impressed with Shanna's, aka Lipreading Mom's email to ESPN, that I decided to use it as template when I emailed Amazon.

Here is her email to ESPN:

Dear ESPN, ABC Sports, and ESPN.com,

As a sports fan with hearing loss, I am writing to express my concern about the lack of captions with your video streaming of live sports events. On several occasions, myself and friends with hearing loss have wanted to watch sport events on your Website, only to be unable to understand the play-by-play information due to lack of captions.

With the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reporting that 34 million U.S. adults have hearing loss, it would be in ESPN and ABC Sports’ best interest to provide captioned streaming as a way to appeal to this large group of potential viewers. Imagine the level of support and good PR your network and site would receive if you launched captioned Internet broadcasts to appeal to this large portion of the U.S. population.

I welcome your thoughts and will be following up with you on behalf of the millions of Americans with hearing loss.

Respectfully,

Shanna, a.k.a. Lipreading Mom Sports Fan

>>> We encourage you to email your concerns to ESPN! Fill out a Complaint/Concern Form here.<<<

Here is my email to Amazon:

Dear Amazon.com and Amazon Instant Video,

As a television and movie fan with a hearing loss, I am writing to express my concern about the lack of captions with your online video streaming of current movies and television shows. On some occasions I tried to watch TV shows from Amazon Instant Video, only to be unable to comprehend the dialogue due to lack of captions. Because of this, I no longer use Amazon Instant Video. If captions were provided, I would be an avid user.

With the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reporting that 34 million U.S. adults as deaf or hard of hearing, it would be in Amazon and Amazon Instant Video's best interest to provide captioned streaming as a way to appeal to this large group of potential viewers. Imagine the level of support and good PR your site would receive if you launched online videos with the option of closed captions to appeal to this large portion of the U.S. population!

I welcome your thoughts and will be following up with you on behalf of the millions of Americans with hearing loss.

Respectfully,

Elizabeth

>>> Contact Amazon and voice your concerns about lack of captioning: https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/contact-us/digital-video.html?ie=UTF8&browse_node_id=3757 <<<

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AMC TV Continues to Censor Closed Captions

2011-12-19T08:09:00.001-05:00

I am watching AMC shows Walking Dead and Hell On Wheels. They are both excellent shows, although I am liking Hell On Wheels more than Walking Dead at the moment. They are also both very violent and bloody, not suitable for young children. In addition, the language used is not always appropriate. They don't censor the offensive language in the audio portion. If you have the ability to hear well, you can hear them say words like 'shit', 'ass', and 'asshole'. However, the word 'shit' is censored in the closed captions. On Walking Dead, the word is depicted in the captions as s@@.

I try not to use curse words or inappropriate language on my other blog because I want to keep it as family friendly as I can. Plus, I am not a fan of curse words. So, it is okay for me to censor or not use certain words I may find offensive on my blog. But, I would never tell others not to use profanity, in other words, censor others, while I use profanity. For me to say that it is okay for me to swear while it is not okay for others to swear would not be fair. If I provided a tool or service that turns my text into speech enabling visually impaired people to listen to what is written on this blog, would it be right for me to exclude certain words or to only provide a 'cleaned up' version for them? No, of course not!

I have been told, "Well, it is better than nothing. At least you have closed-captions, you should stop complaining and be grateful."

While I am grateful for AMC providing closed captions for their television shows, I am not grateful that they continue to exclude a specific group of viewers by censoring the closed captioned portion, but not the audio portion. This is discrimination. This is violating freedom of speech laws.

By the way, according to the FCC,

As of January 1, 2006, all “new” English language programming, defined as analog programming first published or exhibited on or after January 1, 1998, and digital programming first aired on or after July 1, 2002, must be captioned, with some exceptions.
As of January 1, 2008, 75 percent of “pre-rule” English language programming, defined as analog programming first shown before January 1, 1998, and digital programming first shown before July 1, 2002, must be captioned, with some exceptions.

(From the FCC Closed Captioning Guide).

While it is nice that AMC provides closed-captioning for their new shows, it does not make me feel so grateful knowing that they are required to do so according to the FCC. So, it is unlikely they are providing closed captions to make sure deaf and hard of hearing viewers are not left out; it is because they have to. If they really cared, they would not be pre-censoring the language used in the captions.

While they are required to provide closed captioning, it seems as if they are not required to caption the dialogue verbatim. They can cut costs by providing only one version of the closed captions (the cleaned up version) as Greg Hlibok, Chief of the FCC's Disability Rights Office, explains in his letter concerning this issue, which you can read here.

It does not make me feel grateful when I think someone is doing me a favor out of obligation.

What do you think?

(e

Writing "Thank You" Letters Can Be Effective

2011-12-19T08:08:00.001-05:00

I am currently working on writing "thank you" letters or notes to corporations and organizations taking the time to provide closed captions or subtitles for videos they provide. I am doing this one at a time, every time I notice someone putting in the time and effort to provide captioning. Of course, if I feel anything should change or if something needs improvement, I will let them know. I am still sending letters of complaints to certain television networks for continuing to censor the closed captions while the audio portion is not. More on that later.

I think saying "thank you" and showing gratitude is a great way to let people know how important closed captions or subtitles are for those who rely on them. The more positive feedback they can get, the more likely they will work hard to provide more or better versions.

Here is an example of a "thank you" note I wrote msnbc.com:

Just wanted to say "thank you" for providing subtitles and transcripts for some of the videos on msnbc.com.

I am hard of hearing and I rely on closed-captions or subtitles to help me understand what is being said in videos. It is very helpful and is what gets me to come back and visit the site again; knowing that some of the videos will be subtitled or have a transcript.

It would be nice if more or all of the videos you show on msnbc.com have transcripts and or subtitles. I encourage you to add more subtitled videos in the future.

I got a response immediately on the same day:

Thanks for the feedback. We are certainly working to increase the number of videos containing subtitles and transcripts.

cheers

I know this is not terribly exciting and that it is not a guarantee that all videos on msnbc.com will be subtitled. But, it's a start.

I encourage everyone to write at least one letter thanking a company or organization for providing quality closed captions or subtitles.

(e

Related Post: Don't Forget to Say "Thank You"

Letter From Greg Hlibok About Censored Closed Captions

2011-12-19T08:05:00.000-05:00

From Eh? What? Huh? September 30, 2011

Letter from Greg Hlibok to Don Grushkin concerning the censored closed captions issue. Thanks for sharing Don.

Hi Don,

This is a response for you and everyone else who has interest in this matter. Thus, feel free to post this on your blog.

It was brought to my attention that misinformation about the FCC’s closed captioning rules has found its way onto a blog. I hope to clarify the information about the FCC’s closed captioning rules so everyone will have accurate information.

The issue of censorship had not been contemplated in the FCC’s past rulemaking proceedings on closed captioning. Because of this, the closed captioning rules are silent about censorship. Broadcasters, satellite and cable providers must comply with all of the Commission’s regulations about what is required or disallowed to be conveyed to consumers’ televisions. This includes rules regarding indecent or profane language and images. Some of these rules have different standards as to what is permissible depending on the time of day when the program is aired.

Often a show containing indecent or profane language in the audio track originally airs later at night, when such language is allowed, and is then rebroadcast on another day at an earlier time with a “cleaned up” audio track. It is our understanding that some program producers, using an abundance of caution to comply with the indecency rules, have established contracts with the captioning service provider to produce one captioned version of the program that contains modified, or “cleaned up” language so as to meet the standard required during prime-time programming – the times when children and families are most likely to be watching the TV show. This arrangement allows the program to be aired at any time (day or night) using only one captioned version of the program. The FCC does not regulate the agreements between the program producers and the caption companies as long as they are not in violation of the Commission’s rules. That being said, the Commission’s rules define closed captioning to be “The visual display of the audio portion of video programming pursuant to the technical specifications set forth in part 15 of this chapter.” Airing the “cleaned up” captions on the version of the program that does not contain the “cleaned up” track, may not be appropriate. It is an issue we are looking into.

In order to be informed about proceedings in the Commission and particularly in the Disability Rights Office, you may subscribe to our email listserv by sending an email to accessinfo@fcc.gov. This is a great way to be informed about any proposed rule changes related to closed captioning and access to communications technologies for persons with disabilities. We welcome you to file comments to weigh in with your position on any matters under consideration.

Thanks for bringing this important matter to my attention.

Greg

Reasons Given For Censored Closed Captions

2011-12-19T08:03:00.000-05:00

From Eh? What? Huh? September 13, 2011

I just spoke to someone, who, as part of her job, had to call me in regards to my complaint to the FCC about profanity intentionally censored in closed-captions that can be heard when spoken on shows like Breaking Bad.

Nothing came of the call. No solution. Apparently, there is nothing they can do about it. She could not even provide any names and numbers of others I can complain to who could possibly help.

Nothing.

Nothing but vague reasons for why the closed-captions are censored while the spoken version is not.

These are the reasons she gave me:

FCC guidelines for closed-captions are different from their guidelines with spoken dialogue.

Because the producers of the television show are not controlled by the FCC (that is if the show is shown after 10:00 p.m. until 6 a.m.) the dialogue or spoken language used in the show will not be censored. However, the guidelines for closed-captions are completely different, meaning that they will be censored.

Apparently, reading the profanity being used is worse than hearing it. So, to see the profanity in the captions is unacceptable while hearing it is acceptable.

These reasons make absolutely no sense. It's bizarre, really. I wanted to know why closed-captions would be regulated differently from spoken dialogue. She could not give me any valid reasons.

It killed me when she said that it should not be a problem for me to figure out what words they are using, because I am given a hint with the first letter given. She gave an example using the word "love", that if I can read it as l--- then I should be able to understand what was just said.

This made me want to throw my phone against the wall.

Those who rely on closed-captions are being discriminated against according to the disability access laws. Deaf and hard of hearing people should be given the same access as people with typical hearing. If a word is censored when spoken, it should be censored in the closed-captions. If the word is not censored when spoken, it should not be censored in the closed-captions. Censoring only the closed-captions but not spoken dialogue is violating the laws of free speech. One cannot discriminate among classes of viewers. One cannot provide full access to speech to only one group of viewers while censoring it for a different group of viewers.

(e

Good News: Captions Not As Heavily Censored

2011-12-19T07:59:00.000-05:00

From Eh? What? Huh? September 4, 2011 (modified original content)

I watched parts of Breaking Bad tonight on AMC (American Movie Classics) tonight, and it appears that the closed-captions are not so heavily censored as they were before! I have not been watching the show on AMC for a few weeks now, and I do not know when this started. It seemed as if just two weeks ago the closed-captions were heavily censored.

Tonight, the words hell, damn, God, Jesus, and piss were not censored. These words used to be censored in the captions. They did however censor the word shit in the captions while you can hear the character say it.

Nevertheless, this is good news. It is something. But, I wonder what is going on. Why are they still censoring words like shit, but not words like hell, even though a few weeks ago this word was censored in the captions, but not when spoken. I wonder if this has anything to do with Comcast? I did receive a phone call from a representative of Comcast about my complaint to the FCC. I have not had the chance to call them back. Hopefully, I will be able to reach someone tomorrow. Perhaps they were able to somewhat fix the problem?

I'll keep you posted.

Picture still of uncensored closed-captions:


Well, then insist on it, damn it!

Why Does This bother Me So Much? What's the Big Deal?

2011-12-19T07:54:00.000-05:00

Anonymous wrote, in my previous blog entry:

I don't get it... why does this bother you so much. There are so much more things to worry about than trying to get swear words to show up on the screen. The world is bad enough already as it is... focus your time, energy and efforts on something that would change the world for the better rather than some crude measely words that aren't showing up on the screen.

Good question. Why does this bother me so much? Yes, there are millions of other things I could be focusing my time and energy on that could possibly change the world for better. Yes. The world is bad enough as it is. True.

Let me explain.

It bothers me because it is personal. I enjoy watching the show Breaking Bad and I rely on closed captions to help me follow what it being said. I don't like looking at several words with dashes in them, like h---, b---, b------, G--, J-----, s---- when I am trying to follow what is going on. But, that is not the point. What bothers me is that they are only censoring the captions, not when it is spoken. I would not care if the spoken version was censored too. It may not be a big deal to you, but it is to me.
It should not matter what I complain about or choose to spend my time making a big fuss about. If there are things you are worried about and would like to see change, then by all means do something about it! That's what I am doing. I see something that upsets me and I want to see something done about it.
Obviously you do not follow my blog if you think I don't spend my time, energy, and focus on other important things. I am an itinerant teacher of deaf and hard of hearing students mainstreamed in public schools. I spend five days a week, 9-10 hours a day, fighting for my students and educating teachers, administrators, and parents about the various problems and issues these students come across daily. I make sure they have their accommodations. I make sure that they are included and given the same opportunities as everyone else to fully participate in class and outside of class. I have to constantly remind teachers not to cover their mouths when speaking, not to seat the student in the noisiest part of the room, not to ignore the fact that the student's hearing aid stopped working or that their FM system stopped working, not to dismiss my students' feelings of frustrations because "It shouldn't be a big deal." and etc., etc. etc. I am constantly fighting for these students. I have dealt with teachers who did not think it was a big deal that they could not provide closed captions or subtitles for my severely deaf student when she showed movies in class because a) She was not going to grade or test the student on the material shown in the videos, because it was just for fun. And b) "It wasn't a big deal. The student seems fine with it." I provide the students and their families loads of information they can use and insight of what it is like to be hard of hearing. I help families find places where they can get hearing related services for free or at discounted prices. With my own money, I bought some students hearing aid batteries to last them for six months when their families were going through tough times financially. My shoulder gets cried on at least once a week. I sit and let people unload their frustrations on me just about everyday. I recycle. I take care of a cat that lives on the street. I spend time with my family and friends as much as I can. There are a number of other things I do to try to make this world a better place for someone, and one of them happens to be to make sure television shows and movies provide quality closed captions that caption everything that can be heard, even if they are swear words.
Some of the words they censor are not what I would consider to be swear words such as "balls" or "fiddlesticks", which I think is ridiculous and worth getting upset over.
I have a lot of energy and somehow I find the time to blog about things that I am passionate about, things I am concerned about, and things I wonder about.
If no one talks about things that upsets them, nothing will get changed. If we can somehow convince one network not to heavily censor only the words found in closed captions, it would make a difference. If anything, I am raising awareness about the importance of providing quality closed captions.
It is a great learning experience. I am learning about who to contact, how to do it, what to do to raise awareness about issues I care about. Maybe this will be great training for when I try to tackle even tougher issues like getting more movie theaters to provide open captions or subtitles for newly released movies.
If nothing comes of it, at least I can say I tried. I stood up for what I believed in, regardless of what others say, even if it seems meaningless to some.

Hope this explains it.

Is It Worth It?

2011-12-19T07:52:00.001-05:00

PinkLAM asked a good question on my earlier post, Video Clip and Picture Stills of Censored Closed Captions:

And part of me is also wondering if by putting up a fight over the way in which the captioning is set up, we're making companies think twice about using captioning at all?

What do you think?

Video Clip and Picture Stills of Censored Closed Captions From 'Breaking Bad'

2011-12-18T21:35:00.000-05:00

Published on Eh? What? Huh? August 01, 2011

October 2011 Update: Now when I watch AMC's Breaking Bad aired on television, most of the words that were censored before are no longer censored, except for a few words, such as 'shit'. However, when I watch the show On Demand, every word that is deemed inappropriate are still being censored in the captions while it is not in the audio portion. Very inconsistent.

From AMC's hit show Breaking Bad:

Is this really necessary? She can be heard saying "for God's sake" but God is censored in the captions, as you can see.

Captions read: "What the h--- happened?"

Heard: "What the hell happened?"

Captioned: "You little b------."

What was heard: "You little bastard."

Nevermind that he is holding a gun to his head (nice display of violence), but let's censor the word bastard. Makes total sense.

Oh, J---- is right.

By now, you should be able to guess what the captions read and what was actually heard.

Unbelievable.

Filed a Complaint With the FCC

2011-12-18T21:19:00.000-05:00

Published on Eh? What? Huh? July 30, 2011

I went to the FCC website and filed a formal complaint with them here: http://www.fcc.gov/complaints.

I would like to file a complaint about the closed captioning for the AMC network program 'Breaking Bad'. The closed-captions are heavily censored, even though they are not censored when spoken. Example: Caption read "h---", while the character clearly said "hell" out loud.

It is not fair to only censor captioned words that can be clearly heard by others who can hear. I have a problem with this, because it intentionally excludes deaf and hard of hearing people.

I am hard of hearing and I rely on captioning when watching television shows and movies. I like to know what is being said and have full access to the language being used on these shows, like everyone else.

Thank you,

Elizabeth

*UPDATE: Breaking Bad does not include heavily censored captions at this time. They only censored words such as shit and asshole, last time I watched an episode on AMC, but they were not censored when spoken. Words such as hell, damn, God, and Jesus are no longer censored in the captions. Not an 100% resolution, but it is an improvement.

Quit Censoring Only the Captions!

2011-12-18T19:54:00.000-05:00

Published on Eh? What? Huh? July 27, 2011

Whether they intend to or not, I am tired of certain shows censoring the closed-captions, while you can hear the supposedly censored words. For example, I clearly could hear someone somewhat cursing on a television show, while it was censored in the captions. Either the word is substituted with another word that is not as offensive or the word is just not mentioned at all. This is a problem because when the captioning is censored while the spoken version is not, it intentionally leaves the deaf or hard of hearing person out. It tells me that I am not important enough to know exactly what was said, even if it was something offensive. I have the right to be included like everyone else.

If this is a mistake, they should fix it. Perhaps the captioning was done a long time ago before some words became acceptable on some shows. But, what about the new shows? What are their reasons? If they are intentionally censoring the captions, I would like to know why. Is it the captionist that refuses to type bad words? Are they really afraid of offending deaf and hard of hearing people or others who rely on captioning? If this is the case, it is insulting that they would view deaf and hard of hearing people as pitiful and innocent victims needing protection from "bad" language.

I am not against censoring when both spoken and captioned are censored. But, it is not fair if they are going to only censor captioned words that can be clearly heard by others.

I received an email from Scott about this issue. He sent a letter to AMC TV networks asking them to quit censoring only the closed-captions. He would like me to share his letter here. Perhaps this will inspire others to do the same.

Letter:

Chairman of the Board

AMC Networks Inc.
℅ Corporate Secretary

11 Penn Plaza

New York, NY 10001

July 24, 2011

Dear AMC Chairperson,

I write to you today as I, and many other Deaf/Hearing Impaired [D/HI] individuals, have never received a reply to our complaints to AMC via e-mail or U.S.-mail. The few individuals that have, received a, in my opinion, foolish response. My name is Scott Johnston, I live alone, and have multiple disabilities due to Neurofibromatosis Type Two. The main reason I write you is in regards to my 100% deafness and the way you edit closed captioning.

I have enjoyed many of your original series such as Rubicon, The Killing, and The Walking Dead, just to name a few. One very large exception being the censoring on the Closed Captioning. I hated the seemingly extreme nature of the censoring on the captioning and how some words with dual meanings are doubly censored. An example of that double censoring would be, "hand me a golf b----." I found out, by posting a comment regarding my frustration on TVGuide.com, that the sound was not censored for the hearing public. Upon searching via Google, I found others with the same complaint. There is even a Facebook group created and dedicated, to this issue, http://www.facebook.com/groups/amctvhatesdeaf.

Upon learning this discrimination I immediately stopped watching The Killing and will wait for the DVD which, if similar to The Walking Dead, will be uncensored in its Closed Captioning. I will be doing the same for the upcoming The Walking Dead second season. I will rent and not buy these as I will not, directly or indirectly, support a network that holds the D/HI in such a low regard. Basically AMC is saying to the D/HI, "D/HI people have to be protected. It's obvious they don't have the maturity and intelligence to see the big-person words. Please tell them to go away and leave the adults and hearing children alone."

Which leads me to the ridiculous reasons other have been given, "Children might be watching". By that logic, the sound would also be censored to "protect" the hearing children. I have 10-15 hearing friends & relatives that boycott Burger King and Taco Bell as national chains that do not caption their commercials. I am in the process of notifying people of this issue as well. If you multiply that possibility by multiple millions of D/HI across the country and world alone, that is a huge dent on your ratings potential.

In closing I ask this be corrected soon. I'm 40, I may not drink, smoke or do drugs, but that is my choice. I don't care if others do or not. If a word is spoken, it needs to be transcribed. I have multiple disabilities and I despise being perceived as being somehow an inferior person. Watch Breaking Bad or some other show with the sound turned off, and I am sure you will see what I mean.

Sincerely,

Scott E. Johnston

When Captions Censor Inappropriate Language

2011-12-18T19:45:00.000-05:00

Published on Eh? What? Huh? January 24, 2011 (modified original content)

I was watching a part in a movie where it was very obvious that the crazed gunman was screaming horrible curse words. I could clearly hear the words:

"Fuck you motherfuckers!!!!!!! Kiss my ass!!!! AAAAAAAAHHHH!"

It was interesting how the captions were virtually non-existent during this part. Instead, the captions vaguely described how the man was screaming, following a bunch of made up words and symbols.

I notice that censoring with closed captions happens quite often. I think that it does not make any sense for people to be able to hear the curse words or inappropriate language while the captions don't even acknowledge them. Sometimes they use "nicer" words instead. For example, I often read "witch" instead of "bitch". One time, I kid you not, the captions read "sand bag" even though it was very clear that the person said "douche bag". Nevertheless, it was hilarious reading, "Man, you are such a sand bag!"

Is this some sort of mistake? Are they using captions specifically made for shows that would normally censor curse words? Or are they afraid of offending deaf and hard of hearing people? Do they think we are stupid?

Some of us like to curse too. We are not all pure and innocent babies needing protection from the bad words.

I want to know exactly what kind of curse words or horribly inappropriate language is being used.

I cannot have interesting adult discussions about the part in the movie where the guy called the other guy a "sand bag".

(e

No Captions + Super Loud = Horrible Movie Experience

2011-12-18T19:42:00.000-05:00

Published on Eh? What? Huh? August 10, 2010

Saw a movie at the theater a few nights ago. It seemed like a great movie. Full of action, beautiful photography, and bizarre scenes. But, because it was not captioned, I had a hard time following what was being said. Visually, it was appealing, story wise, I hardly have an idea. So I can say that it seemed like a great movie.

Usually, with most uncaptioned movies, I can figure out what is going on. But, this movie had a very complex story and different exciting events occurred all over the place. You had to follow the dialogue to fully understand what was happening. I had an especially hard time understanding what was happening and why. The background or environmental noises were much louder than the dialogue.

Man, it was LOUD!! I think the theater installed a cheap sound system and is compensating for it by blasting the volume. I felt the vibrations in my profoundly deaf left ear and heard and felt the loud sounds in my right ear. It physically hurt. Occasionally, it felt as if someone punched me in my ears. At times, I took off my hearing aid and I turned it on t-coil mode to block out the especially loud parts of the movie. My sister and boyfriend both suffered as well from the occasional loud booms, crashes, and screams. They experienced ringing in their ears afterward. My sister said that her ears felt sore. Yikes.

I gave up on trying to figure out what was going on in the movie after twenty minutes and took a nap. Ugh. I should have left and asked for my money back.

I will definitely contact the movie theater and let them know that they may be contributing to increasing the number of hard of hearing and late-deafened individuals.

(e

Welcome

2011-12-18T18:39:00.000-05:00

Welcome! My name is (e. I manage another blog, Eh? What? Huh?, where I write about deaf and hard of hearing issues, education, and life with a hearing loss.

On this blog, I would like to bring awareness to various problematic issues surrounding closed captioning. I will be discussing lack of captioned media, the need for better quality captions, and how some television shows refuse to caption the spoken dialogue verbatim. I will document my attempts to persuade companies to listen and provide full resolutions to the problems surrounding captioned media one phone call, email, and letter at a time.

Some of the posts will be from Eh? What? Huh? where I wrote about contacting companies and requesting for them to provide captions or subtitles for their videos. I also wrote a good deal about AMC (American Movie Classic) refusing to caption the dialogue verbatim on some television shows.

I encourage you to join Closed Captions Watch and help advocate for more quality captioned media. I can't do this alone. No one can.

There are several things you can do to help: write letters, make phone calls, contribute to this blog, and join organizations fighting for the same cause, such as CCAC (Collaborative for Communication Access Via Captioning).

If you would like to contribute to this blog, please email me: ehwhathuh@yahoo.com

Thank you for reading,

(e

Do You Mind All Text in Closed Captions Capitalized?
No, it does not bother me. Yes, I can't stand it! I don't know. It depends.
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