[Nfb-idaho] FW: 2009 Inaugural Coverage on PBS to be Described and Captioned Live

[Brett Winches]

this is an opportunity if you can receive these SAP descriptions.  The
Insignia DTV converter has a direct access button which makes getting to
the place to turn on this feature much easier than some other units or
digital televisions.  ENJOY.  
 
Merci!
Brett Winchester KD7JN 
bwinchester at icbvi.idaho.gov
208-639-8386
"Blackle.com - Saving energy one search at a time".
________________________________

From: Mary Watkins [mailto:mary_watkins at wgbh.org] 
Sent: Friday, January 16, 2009 11:16 AM
Subject: 2009 Inaugural Coverage on PBS to be Described and Captioned
Live


January 16, 2009
 
Press Contact:  
Mary Watkins
617 300-3700
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/

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/

The Media Access Group at WGBH incorporates The Caption Center, the
world's first captioning agency, founded in 1972; Descriptive Video
Service(r) (DVS(r)), 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. 
 

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