Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!yale!bunker!hcap!hnews!129!26!Stu.Turk From: Stu.Turk@f26.n129.z1.fidonet.org (Stu Turk) Newsgroups: misc.handicap Subject: Problems with ABC's closed captions Message-ID: <13486@bunker.UUCP> Date: 14 Aug 90 13:45:40 GMT Sender: wtm@bunker.UUCP Reply-To: Stu.Turk@f26.n129.z1.fidonet.org Distribution: misc Organization: FidoNet node 1:129/26 - SoundingBoard, Pittsburgh PA Lines: 45 Approved: wtm@bunker.UUCP Index Number: 9804 [This is from the Silent Talk Conference] > From: osmigo@emx.utexas.edu (Ron Morgan) > > As a rule, I'm constantly frustrated by the abysmal quality of the > closed captioning during the evening news (Brokaw, Jennings, Rather). > Many times the mistakes, usually phonic, would be hilarious if they weren't > so **** frustrating. Er, just now, as I write this.... > > caption: "...the milk of the Persian Gulf..." > > actual dialogue: "the middle of the Persian Gulf...." = You need to practice talking to people over a TDD or in 'chat' on a BBS. YOu get used to "translating" errors like that quickly. > Anyway, for the past couple of months, the closed captions on ABC > news (Peter Jennings) and Nightline (Ted Koppel) have been > malfunctioning in some way. It looks like the person doing the > captioning simply can't type fast enough. As I'm *trying* to > follow the Middle East crisis, this is infuriating beyond > description. It usually starts out OK for about 30 seconds, then > goes down to a series of captions like: > > In the.. > But... > Hussein said that.. > then... > all of... = [remainder of quote skipped] Er, I haven't noticed that myself. You might try to bring it to the attention of the local station - It might be a local problem. If you are using an external antenna rather than cable, you might check that also. I've just moved and am getting poorer captioning on one station I got good captioning on before and much better captions on another (but unfortunatly, the "better" captions go past too fast in the local news. They snap four or five lines on the screen one at a time, the jerk all 5 off at once before I can read the last two!) -- Uucp: ..!{decvax,oliveb}!bunker!hcap!hnews!129!26!Stu.Turk Internet: Stu.Turk@f26.n129.z1.fidonet.org