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Nine&squo;s deaf captioning bungle | The Courier-Mail
CHANNEL 9 is under fire for compromising the captions on their television programs in order to save money.
Hoping to cut costs at the debt-ridden network, general manager of operations and cost-cutting expert John Rowsthorne is said to have instructed managers to reduce captioning on programs.
But under an agreement with the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, Nine is required to caption an average of 70 per cent of programming aired between 6am and midnight.
When captions disappeared from programs including Days of Our Lives, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Mornings with Kerri-Anne, Fresh Cooking and Antiques Roadshow, all hell broke loose.
In its defence, Nine protested yesterday it had achieved an average of 78 per cent captioning on programs in the nominated time slot. Figures released to Confidential showed after starting the year with 83.7 per cent of programs captioned, it had now dropped to 57.5 per cent.
Deafness Forum of Australia CEO Nicole Lawder said Nine had blatantly and cynically manipulated their captioning.
"This is discrimination," she told TV editor Erin McWhirter.
CHANNEL 9 is under fire for compromising the captions on their television programs in order to save money.
Hoping to cut costs at the debt-ridden network, general manager of operations and cost-cutting expert John Rowsthorne is said to have instructed managers to reduce captioning on programs.
But under an agreement with the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, Nine is required to caption an average of 70 per cent of programming aired between 6am and midnight.
When captions disappeared from programs including Days of Our Lives, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Mornings with Kerri-Anne, Fresh Cooking and Antiques Roadshow, all hell broke loose.
In its defence, Nine protested yesterday it had achieved an average of 78 per cent captioning on programs in the nominated time slot. Figures released to Confidential showed after starting the year with 83.7 per cent of programs captioned, it had now dropped to 57.5 per cent.
Deafness Forum of Australia CEO Nicole Lawder said Nine had blatantly and cynically manipulated their captioning.
"This is discrimination," she told TV editor Erin McWhirter.