Censor 'Scooby-Doo'?

[Spelca]

Censor 'Scooby-Doo'? Words fail

By Dan Moffett, Palm Beach Post Editorial Writer
Sunday, February 8, 2004

The Bush administration has decided that people with bad hearing have bad judgment, too, and need special guidance from the federal government.

So the U.S. Department of Education is declaring about 200 television programs inappropriate for closed-captioning and denying federal grant requests to make them accessible to the hearing-impaired.

The department made its decisions based on the recommendations of a five-member panel. Who the five members are, only the government seems to know, and it isn't saying. But the shows they censored suggest a perspective that is Talibanesque.

The government is refusing to caption Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie, apparently fearing that the deaf would fall prey to witchcraft if they viewed the classic sitcoms.

Your government also believes that Law & Order is too intense for the hard-of-hearing. So is Power Rangers. You can rest easy knowing that your federal tax dollars aren't being spent to promote Sanford and Son, Judge Wapner's Animal Court and The Loretta Young Show within the deaf community. Kids with hearing problems can forget about watching Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, classic cartoons or Nickelodeon features. Even Roy Rogers and Robin Hood are out.

Sports programming took a heavy hit, too. The government has decided that people with hearing problems don't need to watch NASCAR, Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association, the National Football League or Professional Golf Association tournaments.

The National Association of the Deaf says the government used to caption these shows but abruptly changed course, deciding that the shows don't fit the required definition of "educational, news or informational" programming.

"They've suddenly narrowed down the definition of those three kinds of programming without public input," says Kelby Brick, director of the NAD's law and advocacy center. "Basically, the department wants to limit captioning to puritan shows. The department wants to ensure that deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals are not exposed to any non-puritan programming. Never mind that the rest of the country is allowed to be exposed."

How imperiled the nation might be if The Simpsons and Malcolm in the Middle reached into the living rooms of the impressionable hard-of-hearing. Or, for that matter, Scooby-Doo.

The censorship raises baffling questions about who gets in and who's left out. The government has rejected Nancy Drew but is accepting Andy Hardy. Cory the Clown has won approval, but the Cisco Kid is toast. Charlie Rose and Rod Serling are worthy of captions, but Catherine Crier and Dominick Dunne aren't. Go figure.

The Department of Education is refusing to reveal the names of the panel members whose opinions determined the caption grants and also won't disclose the new guidelines. By every appearance, the government has changed its definition of what constitutes a caption-worthy program. But it's keeping the new rules secret.

"They apparently used a panel of five individuals and then made the censorship decisions based on the individuals' recommendations," Mr. Brick says. "We have found the identity of one of the panelists. This individual tells us that he never knew he was on such a panel and that his views would be used for censorship. No panel was convened. The five panelists were contacted individually and separately."

It could be that people with bad hearing are new casualties of the Bush administration's budget priorities. Paying the Halliburton bills and sending a man to Mars will be costly, perhaps equally so. It could be that missing Bewitched and Law & Order is just one sacrifice the deaf will have to make to advance homeland security and fight terrorism.

The education department makes promises about "No Child Left Behind," but it didn't say anything about leaving behind people with bad hearing. Maybe they should have seen this coming.

The NAD is lobbying Congress to change the policy. Some networks and sponsors are stepping in and providing captions for some of the "inappropriate" shows. But the government's dismissive treatment of 28 million Americans defies words.

"We are outraged the department has taken paternalistic steps to exclude deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals," Mr. Brick says. "Such censorship is offensive and insulting."

Taken from:
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion...c624b0099.html

The list of shows is here:
http://www.nad.org/openhouse/action/...ship/list.html

[Timber Loftis]

Okay, the article had me hooked, but then I got to this word

Talibanesque

and quit reading. I'm boycotting shit with oblique sweeping references to our government and fascism, totalitarianism, Nazi-ism, or radicalism. I know it's en vogue right now, but it's still exceedingly tacky and evidences an itty bitty brain.

Sounds unfair, but cost cuts have to come from somewhere. However much you dislike Halliburton, funding the reconstruction of Iraq certainly takes precedence over making sure every deaf person can watch crappy Bewitched re-runs.

And since when it is my job to fund close captioned TV? The local businesses don't use my tax dollars to build wheelchair ramps and handicap-accessible restrooms. Rather, the government REQUIRES they install these features if they want to run their business. Couldn't and shouldn't that be done with close captioning TV? And, if it was, not EVERY show would need to be captioned -- just like not EVERY business has to have a wheelchair ramp. At some point, the marginal cost become ridiculous, and the one remaining deaf person out in Omaha who has the bad taste to want to watch the Power Rangers shouldn't affect an entire industry.

[ 02-17-2004, 03:59 PM: Message edited by: Timber Loftis ]

[Djinn Raffo]

I'd like to hear (no pun intended) what a deaf person has to say on this matter.

[Chewbacca]

Geez, the least you could do is find out why they used the word

Talibanesque

before crapping all over its usage.

Who cares if someone uses metaphorically the word facist or taliban? And if you do, how does commenting on the use of words further the discussion or have anything to do with the topic?

I think your being facist about the use of metaphors. [img]tongue.gif[/img]

[Chewbacca]

Originally posted by Djinn Raffo: I'd like to hear (no pun intended) what a deaf person has to say on this matter.

Me too.

[Chewbacca]

The methods they used to decide which shows stay and which dont seem strange and arbritary. The govt wont tell what the specific guidlelines are ( national security? or executive privilege? or will Bush/Cheney create a new excuse to keep us in the dark?) nor will they tell who reviewed the shows to see if they met these undisclosed guidelines. WTF???

The Department of Education is refusing to reveal the names of the panel members whose opinions determined the caption grants and also won't disclose the new guidelines. By every appearance, the government has changed its definition of what constitutes a caption-worthy program. But it's keeping the new rules secret.

[Cerek the Barbaric]

Here are the legal requirements for closed-captioning that must be met by Broadcast and Cable companies....

Legal Obligations
Broadcast and Cable (back to top)
Under FCC rules, broadcasters must provide more and more hours of television captioning, under a strict schedule. The rules do not require specific programs to be captioned. The rules require a broadcaster to caption minimum percentages of all of their broadcasts, when looked at over a calendar quarter. Under the Telecommunications Act of 1996 (PL 104-104), virtually all new broadcast, satellite and cable programming must be captioned by January 1, 2006. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) calls for a minimum percentage of both "new" (first shown on or after January 1, 1998) and "old" (earlier) programming to be captioned according to a schedule. See: www.fcc.gov/cib/dro/ccfactsh.html for specific information and for procedures for filing a complaint.

In general, for new programming, broadcasters must meet the following schedule for captioning of "new programming":

450 hours per calendar quarter (25%), beginning Jan. 1, 2000
900 hours per calendar quarter (50%), beginning Jan. 1, 2002
1350 hours per calendar quarter (75%), beginning Jan. 1, 2004
100 % of new programming must be captioned, beginning Jan. 1, 2006.

Information provided by National Association for the Deaf website N.A.D. Website

While I do agree it is sad that several of TV's classic sitcoms aren't closed-captioned, I also have to ask how they meet (or met) the requirements of the Dept. of Education that they either be "informative, educational, or news". I looked over the list of TV shows that are not captioned - NONE of them really qualified as educational or news shows that I could see.

While it IS quite possible that this decision is a result of the cost associated with the War, it sounds as if the USDE was just being rather lax in enforcing the guidelines before, but now they have started enforcing them more strictly.

Despite what the article suggests, President Bush isn't trying to say that hearing-impaired people shouldn't be watching Sanford and Son, Bewitched, or I Dream of Jeannie. The USDE is just saying the captioning of these shows shouldn't be paid for by government grants.

I have to agree with Timber in his sentiment that the broadcast company should pay the bill for captioning their programs.

How many billions did Viacom earn in revenue last year? Why can't they pay the bill to capiton the programs broadcast on the various networks they own?

[Chewbacca]

Whether or not public fund should be used to CC the broadcasts is hardly the issue here.

How the decision is reached concerning which shows are and which aren't CCed is.

[Ronn_Bman]

Hey, I have a great plan.

The federal government isn't providing CC for Bewitched so lets attack Bush for it.

And you know what the best part of my plan is? We can claim he's a despot, and even better, it's a win-win situation because if the government actually begins to provide CC for Bewitched we can attack Bush for that, too.

It's perfect!!!!!!!!!! [img]graemlins/moon.gif[/img]

[ 02-17-2004, 06:55 PM: Message edited by: Ronn_Bman ]

[Chewbacca]

I think they should take the sound out of all those shows for those of us who can hear. Fair is fair, right?

We can then pay either the govt and/or the broadcaster extra for the sound.

I also think every government policy making comittee should be secret. Just like this case, the people on every decision-making comitee wont even be told they are on a commitee!

Also, the government should have the opposite of transparency for every guidleline in every department.

Screw you "The People", Pay up and shut up!!!!