February 17, 2004
Can You Read What I Hear?
Neil Gaiman has discovered that the government considers deaf people to have such delicate sensibilities, they need to be protected from "Courage the Cowardly Dog". No, really.
Posted by Francis at 01:14 AMI think there is less here than meets the eye. All of the approved shows are news/educational while the unapproved shows are not. This isn't about protection - unless you think they are trying to protect deaf people from the Bed Bug Bible Gang (though I guess funding that would have its own issues).
I think this is more of a "funding for the arts" issue. If MTV wants funding for Cribs they can pay for it themselves, so it is a private decision by the network. Having the news closed captioned is in the public interest and gets funding. (Check - I'll bet that Sabrina and Courage are both closed captioned.)
Posted by: Ugarte at February 17, 2004 08:49 AMI think I shouldn't have started both paragraphs with "I think".
Posted by: Ugarte at February 17, 2004 08:49 AMI think you're right. And yet the process by which the decision got made seems a little weird.
Posted by: Francis at February 17, 2004 05:42 PM