Monday, November 20, 2006
Improved FCC Captioning Petition List
The FCC Captioning Exemption Petition List that I created last week, has been improved. The petitions are now organized into categories. It is far from just churches! The categories are Abuse Prevention, Cars, Community, Computers, Educational, Entertainment, Faith, Food, General, Infomercial (includes many cars), Medical, Music, News, Real Estate, Recreational, Sports, Telethon, Tourism, Travel, and Weddings. Also added are clear, easy to follow instructions on how to access each petition directly in the FCC database.
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2 comments:
Thank you, Jamie, for this valuable resource!
I have sent emails for a few of these. I thought it would be more effective to tailor the text a little bit to fit the topic. For example, with news I talked about why news is valuable; ditto for medical programs etc. Here are the emails I wrote (modified from the text you had posted here):
I am filing my objections to petitions for television programming to be shown without closed captions. I am writing to object to the following petition that was filed with the Federal Communications Commission:
Abuse Prevention
Abuse Prevention - NY - Lindenhurst - Women of Substance Ministries Inc. / "Women of Substance"(CGB-CC-0507)
People who are deaf or hard of hearing want and deserve access to televised information that can benefit their lives, just like everyone else.
Closed captioning is an essential part of any televised program. Captioning is not too difficult or too expensive.
I and other deaf people cannot watch television programs without captions. I have known deaf women who have confronted problems related to abuse: they ought to have the same rights as everyone else to have access to information that they can use to protect themselves and their safe health. Deaf women are already at higher risk of all types of abuse, and already face more than the usual barriers in obtaining valuable life-saving information. Allowing this program to be aired without captions would put this women at further risk.
Thank you for your time and attention to this matter.
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I am filing my objections to petitions for television programming to be shown without closed captions. I am writing to object to the following petitions that were filed with the Federal Communications Commission:
Music - AL - Birmingham - Alabama Media Arts Association Inc. (CGB-CC-0280)
Music - AL - Waverly - Dead Serious Entertainment(CGB-CC-0323)
Music - CA - San Francisco - Distortion 2 Static (CGB-CC-0127)
Music - FL - Delray Beach - Mike Sherman Productions Inc. / "Mike Sherman Show"(CGB-CC-0589)
Music - FL - Port St. Lucie - ADAL Corporation(CGB-CC-0538)
Music - IL - Chicago - Gerald Bryant "JBTV" (CGB-CC-0024)
Music - IL - Oak Park - Musical Memories(CGB-CC-0556)
Music - MD - Catonsville - Wille Bacote (CGB-CC-0392)
Music - NM - Albuquerque - The County of Bernalillo NM(CGB-CC-0541)
Music - NV - Henderson - Million Dollar Entertainment & Advertising Inc. / "Paul Bowman's Million Dollar Country"(CGB-CC-0499)
Music - NV - Las Vegas - Making it Big in Las Vegas(CGB-CC-0548)
Music - NY - New York - Fearless Music Inc. (CGB-CC-0156)
Music - OH - Westerville - TVU Music Television / "TVU's Most Wanted"(CGB-CC-0585)
Music - PA - Whitehall - The Godfathers Entertainment of Pennsylvania LLC (CGB-CC-0411)
Music - SC - Spartanburg - The Sound of Light (CGB-CC-0379)
People who are deaf or hard of hearing want access to televised information and entertainment, just like everyone else. It is INCORRECT to assume that deaf and hard of hearing people necessarily cannot enjoy music! I have been deaf since birth but I enjoy music as much as everyone else! Many (most) deaf people can hear at least a little bit. Even when our hearing does not suffice to allow us to understand speech clearly, we may still enjoy the beat of music and sometimes part of the melody. Even deaf people who do not hear at all can still enjoy certain types of music by turning up the volume and feeling the vibrations in their chest (if the volume is loud enough then we will pick up the vibrations through the air).
Closed captioning is an essential part of any televised program. Captioning is not too difficult or too expensive.
I cannot watch television programs that are not captioned. I usually prefer to watch music on video/television rather than listening to them on CD like hearing people, PRECISELY because closed captions enable me to enjoy the music more by allowing me to not only feel/hear the beat but also understand the words that are sung. When a music show is presented without captions then I am effectively cut off from the music.
Thank you for your time and attention to this matter.
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I am filing my objections to petitions for television programming to be shown without closed captions. I am writing to object to the following petitions that were filed with the Federal Communications Commission:
News
News - MA - Boston - Boston Neighborhood Network(CGB-CC-0523)
News - NV - Reno - Sam Shad Productions "Nevada Newsmakers" (CGB-CC-0061)
News - OH - Wadsworth - Mission Broadcasting Inc.(CGB-CC-0588)
News - PA - Boston - The Leadership Group Newsmakers Productions Inc. "Pennsylvania Newsmakers" (CGB-CC-0088)
People who are deaf or hard of hearing want access to televised information and entertainment, just like everyone else.
I am angered that these news broadcast programs have tried to worm out of their obligation, as members of society, to ensure that EVERYONE has equal access to the valuable information they convey. News is a vital component of every democratic society: news helps ordinary citizens monitor government and other institutions to ensure that these institutions function properly and to protect their own rights as citizens. When you leave captions off a news broadcast, this effectively denies deaf and hard of hearing people access to a valuable tool that could otherwise enable their active participation in civil and political society.
Closed captioning is an essential part of any televised program. Captioning is not too difficult or too expensive.
I cannot watch television programs that are not captioned.
Thank you for your time and assistance,
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I am filing my objections to petitions for television programming to be shown without closed captions. I am writing to object to the following petitions that were filed with the Federal Communications Commission:
Medical - AR - Jonesboro - St. Bernards Medical Center (CGB-CC-0345)
Medical - AZ - Tucson - Tucson Osteopathic Medical Foundation / "The Healing Touch"(CGB-CC-0582)
Medical - CA - Newport Beach - Dr. Kaveh Niknia D.D.S. (CGB-CC-0618)
Medical - CA - Palm Desert - The Wellness Hour (CGB-CC-0075)
Medical - NJ - Cedar Brook - Engle Broadcasting (CGB-CC-0049)
Medical - NV - Sun Valley - Tom Lavin "New Skills for Living" (CGB-CC-0145)
Medical - OH - St. Clairsville - DRD Consulting LLC (CGB-CC-0428)
Medical - TN - Knoxville - Think Drug Free America Inc. / "Too Blessed 2 Be Stressed TV Show"(CGB-CC-0608)
Medical - TX - San Antonio - The Justice Foundation(CGB-CC-0572)
People who are deaf or hard of hearing want access to televised information and entertainment, just like everyone else.
I am angered that these programs have filed petitions asking to be waived from their moral obligation to provide closed captions. Don't they think deaf and hard of hearing people get sick too?! Don't we, too, deserve access to valuable information that we can use to protect our health and the health of the people we love? Deaf and hard of hearing people already have more than our usual share of barriers in obtaining information concerning our health. For example, many of us are left out of casual family conversations in which family members might have passed on important health-related information. Or, we also are inherently blocked from obtaining health information via the radio. The barriers we face in other avenues make it all the more vital that EVERY HEALTH-RELATED TELEVISION PROGRAM be aired WITH CLOSED CAPTIONS.
Closed captioning is an essential part of any televised program. Captioning is not too difficult or too expensive.
I cannot watch television programs that are not captioned.
Thank you for your time and assistance,
By the way: YES, anyone may feel free to use any of the text I present here in their own email messages. (Though others may want to modify these further to personalize them a bit.)
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