Closed Captioning Needs A Spell Checker (Repost to groups)

More places are utilizing television sets with the closed captioned option.  This means there is no sound and you follow along with the ticker line underneath that is typed out by someone.  Initially this service was implemented for the deaf and hard of hearing communities.

We first encountered closed captioning several years ago when my youngest son was in the Hospital.  I could not reach the television set to change the setting to a volume nor could I locate a nurse, so we watched some PBS shows with the closed captioning option.

Each sentence seemed to have incorrectly spelled words and sometimes they were really off base.  I was stunned to see this taking place and wondered what type of skills were required to obtain this sort of job.

Rules on closed captioning - http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/closedcaption.html

I suggest they start by getting the Closed Captioning Handbook -

http://www.captioncentral.com/

That site states that stenocaptioners can make $80,000 a year freelancing and that they pay their own phone charges and dictionary maintenance to stay current.  What a crock that is.

How many people use treadmills and other equipment at the gym where there are several television sets with the closed caption turned on?  It is impossible to follow along with any television show and annoying to figure out what the conversation is with the text that is displayed by the closed captioners. 

They should know the English languge and be able to type correctly with minimum errors.  Even the laundromat has the closed captioned section on the sets since the televisions are high up on the wall. 

I would rather listen to bad music than read a text screen with poor grammar and spelling littering the screen.  There must be a standard they need to adhere to.  As it is now, it is simply shoddy and lazy work being pasted on the screens.

We as consumers need to complain to the televsion stations and shows that are utilizing these services and also through the advertisers who are paying for the closed captioning.  They need to monitor the effectiveness of this system and do a major overhaul.