[il-talk] FW: [Nfb-announce] 2009 Inauguration Coverage on PBS to be Described and Captioned Live

[Syed Yousufuddin]

> Date: Fri, 16 Jan 2009 15:10:51 -0600> To: david.andrews at nfbnet.org> From: mary_watkins at wgbh.org> Subject: [Nfb-announce] 2009 Inauguration Coverage on PBS to be Described and Captioned Live> > January 16, 2009> > Press Contact:> Mary Watkins> 617 300-3700> <mary_watkins at wgbh.htm>mary_watkins at wgbh.org> > Media Access Group at WGBH To Provide Closed > Captioning And Live Description for PBS's Inaugural Coverage> > Described version of coverage will also stream > live on the Joint Congressional Committee on > Inaugural Ceremonies (JCCIC) web site, > <http://www.inaugural.senate.gov/>http://www.inaugural.senate.gov/> > Boston, MA ­ The Media Access Group at WGBH, a > non-profit service of the WGBH Educational > Foundation in Boston, Massachusetts, will provide > both closed captioning and live description of > Barack Obama's presidential inauguration for the > PBS presentation of Inauguration 2009, a NewsHour > special hosted by Jim Lehrer. The PBS coverage of > the inauguration airs live on Tuesday, January 20 > from 11AM to 1:30PM EST. While live captioning is > an established feature of many television > broadcasts, live description, the creation at > time of air of a narration track imparting > information about visual elements that people who > are blind or visually impaired would miss, is a > rare service. Dunkin' Donuts is generously > sponsoring the description service for this > broadcast. In 1993, PBS's coverage of the Clinton > inauguration was the first live television > program that was made fully accessible to the > nation's 36 million deaf, hard-of-hearing, blind > and visually impaired viewers.> > While details from the inaugural planning > committee are still forthcoming, PBS plans to > include coverage of Barack Obama's arrival at the > White House, excerpts of the church service and > Barack Obama's speech to the nation from the Capitol steps.> > Hosted by Jim Lehrer of The NewsHour with Jim > Lehrer, the PBS presentation will feature > political analysts Mark Shields and David Brooks, > as well as a panel to provide historical context:> > • Ellen Fitzpatrick, presidential historian and > professor at the University of New Hampshire> • Peniel Joseph, professor of history and > African-American studies at Brandeis University> • Richard Brookhiser, senior editor at National > Review and author of a series of biographies of > America's founders, including Alexander Hamilton and George Washington> > "WGBH is proud to take part in making this > historic event fully accessible to all PBS > viewers once again," says Media Access Group > director Larry Goldberg. "And we're extremely > grateful to PBS, the team at MacNeil/Lehrer > Productions and to corporate sponsor of the live > description Dunkin' Donuts for the opportunity to > bring not only the audio of the inaugural > coverage to deaf and hard-of-hearing Americans, > but also the visual highlights of the occasion to > those who are blind or visually impaired."> > Dunkin' Donuts, for many years a corporate > caption sponsor of local news broadcasts in the > Boston area, is sponsoring description for the > first time. Shannon Maxwell, field marketing > manager for Dunkin' Donuts says, "Dunkin' Donuts > individual franchise owners are proud to play a > part of making this major event accessible to > blind and visually impaired audiences. We are > thrilled that our contribution will make the > images of the day come alive via description."> > Closed captions display spoken dialogue as text > on the television screen. The live captions will > be typed by specially trained stenocaptioners ­ > working from WGBH’s Boston-based headquarters ­ > and broadcast simultaneously with the live > program. The descriptive narration ­ provided by > an expert team of describers ­ will be audible > during pauses in program dialogue and will > identify speakers, describe settings and convey > other visual information about the event. > Captions can be accessed on televisions equipped > with built-in decoders (most televisions are > equipped), while viewers can hear descriptions by > switching to the Second Audio Program (SAP) > channel on their stereo TVs. The described > coverage will also be streamed live on the Joint > Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies > (JCCIC) web site at > <http://www.inaugural.senate.gov/>http://www.inaugural.senate.gov/> > The Media Access Group at WGBH incorporates The > Caption Center, the world's first captioning > agency, founded in 1972; Descriptive Video > Service® (DVS®), which has made television, film > and video more accessible to blind and visually > impaired audiences since 1990; and the Carl and > Ruth Shapiro Family National Center for > Accessible Media (NCAM), a research and > development entity that builds on the success of > WGBH's access service departments to make > existing and emerging technologies more > accessible to these under-served > audiences. Members of the Media Access Group's > collective staff represent the leading resources and experts in their fields.> > > ###> > > > > > > _______________________________________________> Nfb-announce mailing list> Nfb-announce at nfbnet.org> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfb-announce_nfbnet.org> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for Nfb-announce:> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nfb-announce_nfbnet.org/syedy2003%40hotmail.com
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