[BC] FCC Lowers the Boom...

[DANA PUOPOLO]

Of course!

It's the end of the month and the FCC 'cops' have to make their ticket quota
for May!

-D



------ Original Message ------
Received: Tue, 31 May 2005 05:32:01 PM PDT
From: Alan Kline <akline at netins.net>
To: Broadcast Radio Mailing List <broadcast at radiolists.net>
Subject: [BC] FCC Lowers the Boom...

>From tomorrow's Shoptalk:

FCC Fining Stations Over Caption Lapse
By Frank Ahrens
Washington Post

The Federal Communications Commission has proposed fining three Washington
area television
stations for failing to provide adequate closed-caption information for
hearing-impaired
viewers during a tornado watch in May 2004.

NBC-owned WRC (Channel 4), ABC affiliate WJLA (Channel 7) and Fox-owned WTTG
(Channel 5)
face proposed fines totaling $40,000, the FCC said Thursday.

As dangerous thunderstorms and tornado conditions bore down on Washington on
May 25, 2004,
local weather broadcasters told viewers in certain areas they should take
cover but failed
to relay the same information in closed captions, the FCC reported. Under
federal law,
broadcasters are required to provide emergency information in both audio and
visual form,
whether by closed captioning or a similar presentation.

One viewer wrote to the FCC: "[Fox] cut into the screen during 'American Idol'
for news
about the weather. From this visual (with no captions), it look[ed] like the
bad weather
might be in Maryland. I was totally confused."

The FCC investigation found that, at 9:02 p.m., WRC meteorologist Bob Ryan
told viewers to
move away from windows and toward a bathroom or basement if they sensed high
winds but
failed to provide the information in any visual form.

An $8,000 fine is proposed against WJLA, which failed to display
closed-caption
information during one storm report. The other stations each face $16,000
fines because
they each failed to provide the closed captioning during two reports.

The stations can appeal the fines.


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