The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has found Channel Seven Melbourne Pty Ltd in breach of the captioning rules for a broadcast of 7NEWS Breaking News in June 2021.
An ACMA investigation found captions for the broadcast, which involved a Victorian Government press conference relating to COVID-19 and wild weather events in Victoria, had accuracy and comprehensibility issues which did not meet requirements under the Broadcasting Services Television Captioning Standard 2013.
Under the rules, captions provided for television programs, including for news and current affairs, must be readable, accurate and comprehensible so that they can be meaningful to deaf and hearing-impaired viewers.
Examples of captioning issues identified in the investigation included misspelt suburb names, omitted words and incorrect captions. The cumulative effect of the issues resulted in the captioning service not meeting the quality requirements.
As a result of the breach findings, the ACMA accepted a court-enforceable undertaking offered by Channel Seven Melbourne to commence independent audits of captioning quality and processes. This includes additional training for staff responsible for monitoring captions provided for live and near-live content.
The ACMA administers and enforces the captioning rules through annual compliance reporting and the investigation of complaints concerning the captioning of television programming. Improving the quality of captioning is one of the ACMA’s compliance priorities for 2022–23.
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