Communication & Stakeholder Engagement Flashcards

A broadcast director asks a captioner to delay caption display by 2 seconds for 'aesthetic sync.' What is the appropriate response?

Answer: Explain that artificial delays reduce accessibility and may violate FCC timing standards

FCC rules require captions to be synchronous with audio, so artificial delays imposed for aesthetic reasons compromise accessibility compliance.

When a news anchor deviates significantly from the teleprompter script mid-segment, what is the captioner's best communication strategy?

Answer: Continue captioning the live speech accurately and inform the client afterward of the deviation

Captioners must caption what is actually spoken, not the script, and can debrief clients after the broadcast about script deviations.

A producer insists the captioner use unofficial abbreviations for a sports segment to keep pace. What should the captioner do?

Answer: Decline, use standard captioning abbreviations only, and explain the reasoning to the producer

Captioners should use industry-standard abbreviations to ensure captions are universally understood, and should educate producers on this standard.

Which stakeholder is primarily responsible for ensuring the captioning feed reaches the broadcast encoder correctly?

Answer: The broadcast engineer or encoder operator

The broadcast engineer or encoder operator manages the technical infrastructure that routes the captioning signal into the broadcast stream.

A Deaf viewer submits a complaint that captions repeatedly misspelled the guest's name throughout a live interview. What is the most professional first step?

Answer: Review the session log, acknowledge the error to the client, and document preventive measures

Reviewing the session, acknowledging the error, and identifying prevention strategies demonstrates professional accountability and continuous improvement.

Before a live broadcast, the client provides a guest list but no phonetic spellings. What is the captioner's best proactive step?

Answer: Research pronunciations independently and build a custom dictionary entry before air

Proactively building a custom dictionary with researched phonetic spellings reduces on-air errors and demonstrates professional preparation.

A station manager wants captions positioned over the lower-third graphic that displays a guest's title. What guidance should the captioner offer?

Answer: Inform the manager that caption placement is dictated by FCC rules and cannot simply be moved at will without compliance review

Caption placement standards are governed by FCC rules, and changes require compliance review rather than informal ad-hoc adjustments.