American Idol Called Discriminatory by the National Association of the Deaf

As regular Reality TV Magazine readers are aware, American Idol recently made an error in the voting phone numbers for the second time this season. The error occurred during the Tuesday, May 10 singing competition. The error did not occur in the audio or on-screen graphics, but only occurred in the closed captioning. In the second round of performances, the closed captioning for Bo Bice, Vonzell Solomon, and Anthony Fedorov incorrectly listed the phone number for Carrie Underwood. Unlike the first time when a phone number error occurred in on-screen graphics, Fox decided that the closed captioning error did not warrant a re-vote. Fox also neglected to make an on air acknowledgement of or apology about the error during the Wednesday, May 11 American Idol results show .

After running our story, Reality TV Magazine received comments from some or our hearing impaired readers who were outraged about this error. They were outraged that not only did this error occur, but also that Fox failed to mention or apologize for this error during the results show. Some of our hearing impaired readers even said that they had intended to vote for Anthony Fedorov but mistakenly voted for Carrie Underwood due to the closed captioning error.
Reality TV Magazine contacted the National Association of the Deaf to see if there might be any data available that would provide statistics on how many
people the closed captioning error could have impacted.

Kelby Brick, the Director of Law & Advocacy for the National Association of the Deaf, provided us with the following response in regards to statistics, “We do not have specific statistics on how many people watch TV shows such as American Idol. As a general rule of thumb, you can assume approximately 10 percent of viewers are deaf or hard of hearing. There are over 28 million deaf and hard of hearing individuals in the U.S.”

Reality TV Magazine also asked Mr. Brick how often these type of errors occur and he responded that “Typographical errors happen way too often. The National Association of the Deaf have filed a petition with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) asking them to set minimum captioning quality rules.” When asked specifically about the American Idol incident and their decision not to have a re-vote this time, Mr. Brick informed us, “The NAD believe that errors in captioning such as those in American Idol can be easily avoided. The failure of FOX to respond appropriately is exclusionary and discriminatory.”

Based on the information provided by Mr. Brick and considering that previous statements on American Idol indicate that 30 to 35 million votes are typically cast, Reality TV Magazine estimates that as many as 3 to 3.5 million votes could have been affected. However, taking into consideration that the error only occurred during one of the two performances and in Eastern and Central time zones only, Reality TV Magazine estimates the impact was more likely in the range of 750,000 to 875,000 votes.

Since Fox does not release the official voting numbers by contestant for American Idol, we have no way of knowing if the phone number error could have made a difference in the results. But it is not outside the realm of possibility that a closed captioning error could have cost Anthony Fedorov his chance at becoming the next American Idol. While it might be too late for Anthony, an official apology by Fox to the hearing impaired community during the next American Idol broadcast does seem warranted. All hearing impaired viewers need to be made aware of the error so they will be on their guard in case the error occurs again in future telecasts. If there is any silver lining in this error, American Idol has provided organizations like the National Association of the Deaf with a textbook example for why the FCC should mandate minimum captioning quality rules.

http://www.realitytvmagazine.com/blog/2005/05/american_idol_c_2.html