CBC Professional Ethics & Standards 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Under CBC professional standards, what is the minimum acceptable real-time captioning accuracy rate for broadcast work?
- 85%
- 90%
- 95% (Correct answer)
- 98%
Correct answer: 95%
NCRA and CBC standards set 95% accuracy as the minimum threshold for professional real-time broadcast captioning.
Question 2: A captioner learns that a competing captioner has been misrepresenting their CBC certification status to clients. The ethical response is to:
- Ignore it as it is not their concern
- Publicly call out the competitor on social media
- Report the misrepresentation to NCRA through appropriate channels (Correct answer)
- Inform the competitor's clients directly
Correct answer: Report the misrepresentation to NCRA through appropriate channels
Professional ethics require reporting credential misrepresentation to the certifying body, not taking unilateral public action.
Question 3: Which of the following is considered a conflict of interest for a broadcast captioner under professional ethics guidelines?
- Working for multiple broadcast networks
- Having a financial stake in a story being captioned (Correct answer)
- Using dictionary-building software
- Taking continuing education courses
Correct answer: Having a financial stake in a story being captioned
A financial interest in the subject matter being captioned creates a conflict of interest that could compromise impartiality.
Question 4: A captioner is offered a gift by a broadcast client after completing a long-term contract. According to ethics guidelines, the captioner should:
- Accept graciously as it is a token of appreciation
- Decline if the gift could create an appearance of bias or obligation (Correct answer)
- Report the offer to NCRA immediately
- Accept only if the gift is under $25 in value
Correct answer: Decline if the gift could create an appearance of bias or obligation
Gifts that could create an appearance of bias or future obligation should be declined to maintain professional integrity.
Question 5: What does the duty of 'fidelity' mean in the context of CBC professional ethics?
- Maintaining high audio quality during broadcasts
- Accurately representing spoken content without alteration or omission (Correct answer)
- Being loyal to your employer over the deaf audience
- Keeping all personal information of broadcast subjects confidential
Correct answer: Accurately representing spoken content without alteration or omission
Fidelity in captioning means faithfully and accurately conveying spoken content exactly as delivered.
Question 6: A network requests that a captioner sign a broad nondisclosure agreement covering all content captioned for them indefinitely. The captioner should:
- Sign without review since NDAs are standard practice
- Review with legal counsel before signing, particularly regarding scope and duration (Correct answer)
- Refuse to sign any NDA as it violates captioner rights
- Only sign if given a pay increase
Correct answer: Review with legal counsel before signing, particularly regarding scope and duration
Reviewing NDAs with legal counsel protects the captioner from agreements that could unduly restrict their professional practice.
Question 7: During a live broadcast, the anchor uses a term the captioner suspects may be a slur. The captioner should:
- Replace the term with a neutral word
- Caption the term as spoken and flag it in a post-broadcast report if warranted (Correct answer)
- Stop captioning until the segment ends
- Ask the producer via chat what to do before captioning
Correct answer: Caption the term as spoken and flag it in a post-broadcast report if warranted
Accurate captioning requires rendering the term as spoken; any concerns should be reported post-broadcast through proper channels.
CBC Professional Ethics & Standards 3
Under CBC professional standards, what is the minimum acceptable real-time captioning accuracy rate for broadcast work?