[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 110 (Wednesday, September 15, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1622-E1623]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  RECOGNIZING THE NATIONAL CAPTIONING INSTITUTE'S QUARTER CENTURY OF 
 ACHIEVEMENT IN CLOSED CAPTIONING AND RELATED MEDIA ACCESS TECHNOLOGIES

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. EARL BLUMENAUER

                               of oregon

                    in the house of representatives

                      Tuesday, September 14, 2004

  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, as the co-chair of the Congressional 
Public Broadcasting Caucus I am introducing a bipartisan Congressional 
Resolution to recognize the achievements of the National Captioning 
Institute (NCI) in providing closed-captioning services and other media 
access technologies to Americans who are disabled by hearing loss and/
or vision loss, or who are limited by their inability to read or master 
English as a second language. Given that communication delivery systems 
such as television and, more recently, the Internet, play an absolutely 
essential role in American society, the proposed Congressional 
Resolution salutes NCI's quarter century of progressive development in 
bringing media access technologies to the American people. NCI's stated 
mission is improving access to communications for all, and this 
Resolution supports the organization's laudable efforts.

[[Page E1623]]

  The National Captioning Institute was founded in 1979 as a nonprofit 
corporation with the mission of ensuring that deaf and hard-of-hearing 
people have access to television through the technology of closed 
captioning. Prior to this time, captioned television was offered on an 
extremely limited basis, and the captions were ``open'', resembling 
subtitles, an obtrusive system roundly rejected by broadcasters and 
audiences alike. NCI pioneered the closed-caption technology in which 
captions could be accessed through special decoder units. This 
revolutionary solution made it possible for both hearing and hearing 
impaired audiences to enjoy television programming at the same time, 
and made the goal of accessible television a reality. Since the first, 
nationally broadcast closed captioned television programs appeared in 
1980--an event so momentous that it was announced by the White House 
and made international headlines--tens of millions of deaf and hard-of 
hearing Americans have been able to access television for entertainment 
and news content every day.
  With the anniversary of September 11, 2001 this past week, we are 
reminded of the special importance of captioned television in the case 
of national emergencies. On that terrible day, NCI's dedicated 
captioners remained on the air for countless hours over a period of 
several days, captioning in real time the event and its harrowing 
aftermath for millions of Americans who, without NCI's work, would not 
have been able to fully comprehend the attacks and their profound 
impact.
  It is estimated that more than 100 million Americans benefit from 
captioned programming. These audiences include 28 million people who 
are deaf or hard-of hearing; children and adults learning to read; and 
those learning English as a second language. Hearing and non-hearing 
audiences are most likely to use closed captioning in their homes, 
although the system is embedded throughout today's society in public 
spaces such as bars, gyms and airports. As part of NCI's commitment to 
providing media access to everyone, NCI is making great advances in the 
development and application of described video technology, a service 
that provides an audio description of the visual elements of video 
programming for people who are blind or have low vision, which is an 
audience of more than 14 million people.
  The span of NCI's perseverance and dedication extends far beyond 
technology for our televisions. NCI established the Nation's only free 
consumer help desk for communications access issues where citizens may 
pose questions on topics such as the availability of captioned 
programming, how to resolve problems with displaying captions, 
accessibility of closed captions with digital cable and high definition 
television, and the availability of closed captions in Spanish and on 
DVDs and home videos.
  In addition to its technologic achievements, NCI recently took the 
lead on auditing how the entire captioning industry is performing. It 
commissioned the field's first study to evaluate the quality, 
availability and use of the Nation's captioning services in order to 
improve performance throughout the entire captioning industry.
  In light of all of the above achievements, I look forward to working 
with my colleagues to pass this bill and demonstrate our support for 
the National Captioning Institute's dedication to improving media 
access to millions of our fellow Americans.

                          ____________________