OMG! CNN closed captioning: Al Quada called Barak to congratulate him!!

[liberalhistorian]

Though not deaf, I'm hearing-impaired enough to use closed captioning on my television, which has been a godsend. So, I'm watching CNN just a few minutes ago and couldn't believe what I saw. They were discussing the results and then came this little gem: "We can say that, in fact, Al Quada called Barack to congratulate him just awhile ago." WTF? My husband saw my reaction, but had been listening to the commentary instead of watching the closed captioning. He couldn't figure out what was up with me until I told him what the CC had said. He said no, no, Hillary Clinton called him to congratulate him, not Al Quada!!!! He hadn't seen the CC, so he didn't know what to think.

He then suggested that maybe the cc typers didn't hear it right. No way. There is NO WAY they could have mistaken Al Quada for Hillary Clinton. Maybe if her name was Mary Mida or something like that, it might be slightly possible. But NO WAY. That is just unbelievable. Are they taking up Faux News tricks now? Jesus H. Christ.

Gee, now, I wonder why they'd want to associate Obama with Al Quada? Hmmmmmmmmm..........

[nomorewhopper]

1. "and in a most confusing turn of events, the deaf vote seems to have entirely swung to McCain"

this is too funny

[NMMNG]

4. .....

:spray:


And the next question is who are they going to blame for the CC error---McCain's minions or Clintons? :shrug;

[kdpeters]

128. You know what, Buffy? I'm bookmarking this post for your next complaint about McClurkin...

and your protests at being told to "get over it". Hypocrite.

Be honest here. You've never given one second thought to what it means to a person who relies on these services like captioning, relay and interpreting that the information relayed is accurate, faithful and complete. Yet, here you are dismissing and pooh-poohing liberalhistorian's concerns as a hard of hearing person -- basically telling her to "get over it" when it is you who doesn't "get it". Why in the hell should it be necessary for her to ask her husband about al Queda calling Obama? What gives anyone the right to censor her information for her and make decisions for her regarding what she should or should not think? And who are you to laugh about it and belittle her? You are every bit as guilty being short-sighted and entitled coming from your privilege as a hearing person that you accuse some of these straight folks who don't get it. You've just done to Liberalhistorian what you rightfully protest when done to you. But you should know better. Shouldn't you?

Censorship happens and I've seen it happen myself even in the captioning. I'm telling you, when it happens, it always favors a right-wing conservative slant -- even homophobic. Once I was watching Washington Journal the caption typist would never type the word "gay" replacing it with "bumblebum" instead every time. Does that make it more meaningful to you when it's homophobic censorship? I guess it's not important to you that the conversation made no sense to someone wondering what the fuck a bumblebum is who couldn't hear that the word was supposed to be "gay". It completely invalidated the entire discussion for my partner who is Deaf and gay. Accessible information is an important issue to both Deaf and gay folks. I'm hoping maybe, just maybe, if I can appeal to you to see how this is important for gay people who also happen to be deaf, you'll see why it's just important to us all.

Peace. -K

[sjdnb]

6. Did you bother to read what she wrote, or are you just willing to

rank on the hearing impaired because you PRESUME the post was Anti-Obama? - because, in fact, the one you responded to wasn't - it was more an inquiry.

[nomorewhopper]

9. guess i should have used the "sarcasm" logo

phony headline making fun of the absurdity of the situation - figured it was pretty clear. guess not

[grantcart]

69. priceless and the logo would have ruined it

panties . bunched up. . causing. . . agony

[elixir]

92. I guess you need to work on telegraphing your message. Like Obama does, talk in large pictures.

[jhrobbins]

153. I got it-but I'm like , OMG, you know, super intuitive, like

[ghostsofgiants]

67. How the hell did you even get that from nomorewhopper's post?

[elixir]

93. Cool. Is your graphic a shot at Obama?

[ghostsofgiants]

119. Yes. Yes it is.

[jhrobbins]

154. BTW - I love your graphic, so I borrowed it

[ghostsofgiants]

188. Glad you dig it, it's from a comic called "Indie Tits."

http://www.indietits.com (It's safe for work, haha.)

[liberalhistorian]

8. I'm sorry, but what's so funny about it?

I fail to see the humor in using Faux News tricks such as this one. This was no error or "mistake." There is no way they could have heard "Al Quada" instead of Hillary Clinton. This was a deliberate attempt to smear Obama with the "soft on terror" bullshit that they did with Kerry in '04, when they tried to make it seem as if Bin Laden and Al Quada wanted Kerry to win. They are going to start playing on the "Obama, Osama" crap now.

And FYI-it's not just the totally deaf who use closed captioning. There are millions of us who are not deaf, but are hearing-impaired enough to benefit from closed captioning.

[tblue37]

158. I am one of those hearing impaired but not totally deaf who use CC. n/t

[Hekate]

187. Acoustics in our house is terrible. We use CC all the time to keep the volume down. I hope...

...that the person who caught this egregious bit of propaganda will write a hot letter to CNN. If no one complains, they will have gotten away with it -- again.

Hekate

[faithfulcitizen]

15. OMG LOL, but seriously, MSNBC put OBL's pic up where Obama's should have been.

on matthews show.

[MrCoffee]

106. lmao

:thumbsup:

[Kikosexy2]

129. Let the smears...

begin...

[Bright Eyes]

2. There was a post of a video from CNN

a few weeks ago, where they "pretended" Obama was pointing at Osama during one of his speeches.

Because you know, CNN is SO biased against Clinton! :sarcasm:

[Aviation Pro]

3. It starts....

....Goddamnit.

[liberalhistorian]

12. Indeed.

nt

[cooolandrew]

5. Yeah but most people woud figure that is right wing nonsesne but poor show by CNN there.

[TooRaLoo]

7. Oh crap. Not again, CNN. NT

[WillyT]

13. Welcome To DU, esuna !!!

:bounce::toast::bounce:

Glad ta have ya aboard!!!

:hi:

[TooRaLoo]

37. Thank ya!

I've been around since '03, but it's been a while since I moved, and I couldn't remember my old log-in.

Glad to be back!:toast:

[zanne]

86. I did that a couple of years ago, too! nt

[bellasgrams]

19. I could see that happening after the remark about not being

proud of America, and the press he's had about being a Muslim. Maybe they think he is. Plus the news this eve had people somewhere in Africa excited about a BO win so he would help their country.

[Laurab]

41. Thats odd - I can't see it happening at all.

Maybe on Faux News but not CNN. They know very well he's not a Muslim, there's nothing wrong with Africa being happy, and he didn't say he wasn't "proud of America".

"I could see that happening" is a really odd statement - I'm wondering if perhaps you got lost on the way to your regular website?

[mzmolly]

10. You need to notify the station if this happened.

:(

[VolcanoJen]

11. Lib... around what time? I Tivo'd CNN and I'll try to screencap it

If true, this is big.

[liberalhistorian]

16. I think it was a little before

10:30 (central time, 11:30 eastern), give or take a little. I should have noted the exact time, but I was too shocked at first.

[VolcanoJen]

23. I'll look for it... do you remember who was on screen, so I can nail it down?

Donna Brazille was on at 11:30 eastern.

[liberalhistorian]

26. It was just before Donna came on,

not more than five minutes before her, probably less.

[VolcanoJen]

27. Got it.

I'll look shortly and if I find it, I'll post the screencap.

[liberalhistorian]

30. Thanks, and that would

be great if you could do that!

[VolcanoJen]

38. GOT IT... just took photos!

I'll post them shortly... give me a sec. CNN closed captioning transcriber substituted "Al Qaeda" for "Hillary Clinton."

Holy Crap.

[liberalhistorian]

42. THANK you, Jen,

much appreciated! Holy crap, indeed.

[MediaBabe]

43. SCOOP

Of course now the liberal in me is hoping someone doesn't lose their job if it was an accident.

[liberalhistorian]

46. I agree. But, again, I just

simply cannot see how this could have been an accident. The MSM has made allusions to the Obama/Osama similarities before, and particularly his middle name, Hussein, and have played on it before.

[BattyDem]

44. You should post them in a new thread - more people will see them

Someone has a lot of explaining to do. :grr:

[VolcanoJen]

53. lib... you should start a new thread with the photos.

Either that or everyone should K&R the shit out of this.

I do believe our own liberalhistorian has a scoop!!!

[liberalhistorian]

56. I agree we should start a new thread, Jen,

with the pics (and again, many thanks to you for the pics). At the risk of sounding really dumb, since I'm a techno-dummy, how would I do that with the pics?

[VolcanoJen]

45. PROOF: Here are the photos of the CNN Closed Captioning.

Anderson Cooper was saying they'd just received word that Hillary Clinton had called Barack Obama to congratulate him. The CNN closed captioning typist substituted "Al Qaeda" for "Hillary Clinton." Shameless. And nice catch, liberalhistorian. Just sent these off to Talking Points Memo and Media Matters with a link to your thread.

[leeno]

47. holy shit

[susankh4]

99. Geesh....

And this is only the beginning of it.

We will all need lots of kevlar to make it through 2008.

[goldcanyonaz]

48. OMG! That's one disgruntled employee they got working at CNN.

[arcane1]

111. I wonder if he/she is related to the Fox News graphic fool

that puts a "D" next to any repub that gets in legal trouble... by "accident" of course

[JustDavid]

137. It is my understanding..though I don't know much about it....

that CC is paid for by the brodcaster.

Not to be confused with the scrolling news at the bottom...

CC is provided by an outside contractor.

Thats what I think I know.

[liberalhistorian]

50. Thank you, Jen!

I knew I wasn't crazy and that I'd seen that! Holy shit. Shameless, indeed. As the other poster suggested, maybe you should post those on a separate thread.

[VolcanoJen]

55. My pleasure. And very happy to help.

I'm disgusted.

I've sent them off to Media Matters and TPM with a link to this thread... if anyone wants to send them to Keith Olbermann or other outlets, please feel free to do so but BE SURE to link to this thread so liberalhistorian gets the scoop!


Please keep this thread K&R'd!!!!

[BattyDem]

51. Send them to KO

This is a contender for Worst Person in the World

[liberalhistorian]

57. Not to mention a Top Ten

Idiot for next week!!!

[BattyDem]

59. Definitely!

:hi:

These people have no shame! :mad: I'd like to believe it was an accident, but there have been too many "accidents" of this type in various news broadcasts.

[leeno]

52. link to email CNN and complain

http://www.cnn.com/feedback/forms/form5.ac.html?10

[uppityperson]

65. Thank you for that link. Shame on them.

[Divine Discontent]

176. Wrote em a very angry letter

saying they are part of a continuing effort to tie Obama with Al Qaeda and Osama to scare off older voters and the casual viewer of any age who doesn't follow government news closely. I said Fox always puts "D" next to "R"epublican lawbreakers and, MSNBC just put a pic of Osama up when Matthews was talking about Obama, and now CNN is SOMEHOW confusing Al Q with Hillary!????!????! I know there's some real Hill haters out there, but that's a stretch!

[LoZoccolo]

61. Someone maybe needs to get FIRED. n/t

[high density]

72. Wow.

That's bad.

[THUNDER HANDS]

73. THIS IS NOT CNN'S FAULT - PLEASE READ

this is a captioner, sitting at their home, watching this on tv. CNN has nothing to do with this.

I can tell by looking at that what the problem was. The captioner was tired and was missing strokes on their keypad.

Et Kit is Etiquette and they missed a letter to make it that way.

The call was made prior to he - should read the call was made prior to the, which are two completely different letters on the pad.

He is E and the is T (it's complicated to understand, I know, but trust me)

I have no doubt this was a shortform mistake.

A captioner does not have time to maliciously change words of live TV. When you're doing this, you're not thinking about anything other than every single word someone is saying. You don't have time to process it further than what keystroke to hit.

At this point in the show CNN had been on for about an hour with no break. That's one hour straight of captioning without a rest for your fingers.

Imagine trying to keep your fingers moving for an hour straight with no rest and see how many words you spell correctly?

Don't blame CNN for this. It was, I'm sure, an honest mistake.

[liberalhistorian]

78. Yeah, Rat, but how did it end up

saying Al Quada? I have no doubt the captioner was tired, but how could it have ended up saying that? I just can't see it as an honest mistake, especially since many in the MSM, including some pundits, have been itching to link Obama to Osama, and play on his middle name, Hussein. I'm sorry, but I just don't see it being a mistake.

[kerry-is-my-prez]

131. I've seen some bad spelling - but this is over and beyond being a typo.

CNN needs to explain what happened here.

[Kokonoe]

79. Thanks for clearing that up, I never trust Tivo anyway

[liberalhistorian]

82. Jen may have captured the screenshot from TIVO,

but I assure you that those words were also sent out live, when it first happened.

[Kokonoe]

100. I Know, This stuff goes on and on

We can't even hardly notice anymore. It's so bad that we get in arguments because one of our own candidates gets "good" coverage. At the same time we have to swallow how the republicans are great and patriotic. :puke:

[high density]

91. I guess we need to know what the short forms for Al Qaeda vs. Hillary Clinton are

That would give me a better idea of whether or not it seems to have been simply a keystroke error.

[AngryOldDem]

98. I'm sorry, but there was no way that this was an "honest mistake."

I could *perhaps* forgive "Osama" if "Obama" was meant. As a proofreader, I know that shit happens. But how can you explain typing in, correctly, Al Quada, if you meant HRC? Somebody was trying to be either malicious or "funny," and my money is on the former rather than the latter.

This, combined with MSNBC's "accidental" display of a photo of Osama bin Laden while Tweety was talking about Obama is just too frigging coincidental and inexcusable.

Media have lost ALL credibility now. And it's only gonna get worse should Obama win the nomination. Guaranteed.

[surfermaw]

120. This is what I thought would, first Edwards then Hillary, Now Barrack it going to be handed McCain

that is the way the media works in selecting our President, otherwise how would we have GWB, a man that never accomplished any thing, rode his dads coattail all the way. Think people McCain is the same, he rode his dad's coattail to the Naval Academy, where he finished next to last in his class.bragged he wish he would have been last. The republican party stand by their men, it McCains time and he will be pushed by republicans and Republican Corporate Business MEDIA for one.

[liberalhistorian]

127. I have a lot of trouble believing it was just

an accident or honest mistake as well, despite all of the explanations for it. And especially considering all the other similar "mistakes" that have been made. And especially considering that, as I said below in response to another poster regarding frequent cc "mistakes", I've seen this kind of thing happen all too often on the part of the captioners these past several years of having closed captioning.

And anyone ever notice that these kinds of "mistakes" never seem to happen to republicans? Gee, I wonder why. Hmmmmm.............

[IsItJustMe]

101. Maybe I am a cynic, but I don't buy that for one second.

[Pacifist Patriot]

149. I concur it is the fault of the individual doing the CC transcribing, HOWEVER...

I have seen really good work and really bad work in this area. This goes beyond fatigue or typos. A typo for Clinton would be Vintob or Clinron. Not Al Qaeda. Someone was either being cute or spiteful.

[defendandprotect]

169. I agree on that --- "AL QAEDA" correctly spelled while HRC not clear to the

transcriber ---

While I also agree that this is somewhat independent of CNN ---
they are not dumb enough or disinterested enough to have hired anyone totally independent--
I'm sure there are or will be times when they communicate that they want --- or don't want ---
something in or out.

Remember the Buttlerfly ballot --- a Democrat? Theresa La Pore . . .
evidently later lined to Republicans ---

And, what about that double bubble deal this time around . . .

Not only do MIC have people planted all over the place with corporate-media --- MOCKINGBIRD ---
but Republicans also have them planted --- think of John Ellis/FOX NEWS in 2000!!!

[VolcanoJen]

179. "Vintob" or "Clinron"

Pac, do you know anything about steno? Looking for another explanation here... I don't know a think about how "Hillary Clinton" became "Al Qaeda" in transcription, so would love to hear more about what you think!

[THUNDER HANDS]

182. actually, it wouldn't be Vintob or Clinron, that's not how steno works

A stenographic keypad is not like a Qwerty keyboard.

When you type, you don't type letters, you type individual words, phrases or even sentences by hitting different letter cominations.

Hillary Clinton could easy be typed H-K or H*K and Al Queda could be typed L-K or L*K. As I explained above, the L and H letters are formed almost the same way, it's the addition or absence of hitting the R button at the same time you hit the H button that makes it either an H or an L.

[Pacifist Patriot]

192. Not exactly my point. Regardless of the stenographic keypad difference...

from a Qwerty keyboard, don't you find it odd that Al Quaeda was spelled correctly instead of some kind of jumble of Hillary Clinton? Even if it wasn't malicious or mischievious, I don't think it was a typo. Now did the stenographer "mishear" Cooper and it was an honest mistake in that regard? That's a distinct possibility. But I don't buy lazy typing as an answer.

[THUNDER HANDS]

196. the captioner wasn't SPELLING Al Queda or Hillary Clinton

the words Al Queda and Hillary Clinton (together, not seperately, as in, they didn't have to type Al and then Queda or Hillary and then Clinton) were pre-programed on his or her machine so that when they hit L-K or H-K, they came out like that.

It's not a question of having to TYPE out the letters, you're hitting one stroke and Al Queda OR Hillary Clinton comes out.

[Pacifist Patriot]

204. I understand that it is like the pre-programmed key strokes when I...

text on my phone (and yes I know the keyboard isn't the same). But I'm going to stand by my post to the OP below.

[0007]

209. That's what ya call self conflagration. Whipping the troops into

shape without a horn.

[Pacifist Patriot]

213. *sigh* I get that. I totally get that.

Didn't I just say I understood that? Heck, I've been defending the captioner elsewhere in the thread. AAAGGHHH!!!!

[eppur_se_muova]

152. Are you sure this isn't done by voice recognition software?

I've seen some pretty strange things in closed captions, and it's usually obvious that the mistake came from confusion between similar phonemes, or placing the break between words in the wrong place -- often breaking a word in two, or fusing words together.

Perhaps live programs are done by software, and pre-recorded ones by transcription service?

[onehandle]

161. It is.

DUers are nuts.

[eppur_se_muova]

164. Thank you for being a voice of Reyes' zone. nt

[THUNDER HANDS]

183. no, live tv is done by captioners

voice recognition software doesn't work well enough to be used by any major network. It has to be done so it can differentiate between two different people speaking, which is why when two people are speaking, you'll see the breaks from where one person stopped talking and another started. If it was voice recognition, there would just be one long block of text - it wouldn't even have periods in it because the VRS wouldn't be able to identify a complete sentence.

[TankLV]

171. Bullshit - it's not like replacing a couple letters close together on the kedyboard..

they are two COMPLETELY DIFFERENT WORDS...

this was INTENTIONAL.

NO FUCKING WAY it was "accidedntal" - what I just thpedx was accidental...not that...

[THUNDER HANDS]

184. if you don't understand Steno, it would be hard to understand how it could happen

but if you knew anything about the process and what captioners have to do, and how good they really are at what they do, you'd know it wsn't intentional. The best captioner in the world doesn't have the ability to know ahead of time what a person is going to say and think up something witty and devilish like that, in less than a fraction of a second, and make it flow with the rest of what a person said.

It's impossible.

[myrna minx]

75. That is a new low.

I'm just stunned. That is no "accident."

[IsItJustMe]

76. omg, Someone needs to go through all of these media accounts, gather them in one place, and create

an anti msm tv ad about it or something. Seems like Obama should know about this.

[harun]

81. Somebody better get fired for this BS (n/t)

[trusty elf]

84. Despicable!

If the FCC weren't infested with bushevic cronies they would slap a massive fine on these bastards.

This doesn't reach the threshold of nipples and butt cracks, I guess.


:wtf:

:puke:

:argh:

:grr:

:nuke:

:banghead:


edited to add puking!

[JustDavid]

138. AS BAD AS IT IS....

The FCC would not have the right to fine them.

In a legal sense...its a mispelled word....a typo. You cannot fine them for that. If so, you could fine them for every typo on CC.

They can be exposed...they should be forced to correct it and apologize to whomever it offended... but legal action...ain't gonna happen.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

85. I just forwarded this to Keith Olbermann citing CNN Worst Person In The World!

Hope he picks this up!

[0007]

208. I can't hear you!

[AX10]

87. ROFL

And the stupid left wing idiots let themselves be snookered out of an HRC candidacy for an unknown who will be easily sideswipped.
:eyes:

[Laurab]

163. Well, apparently HRC IS Al Qaeda, so......

Had she won, it would have read: Obama called Al Qaeda to congratulate her.

Are you referring to everyone who supports Obama, or who doesn't like YOUR candidate, as a "left wing idiot"? I think that's a personal insult to a LOT of people on this board, and I don't think many of them are "idiots" either.

Anyone who thinks this is "ROFL" material might just be an idiot, though.

[VolcanoJen]

180. I mean, really

Are Clinton backers flattered that "Al Qaeda" may have been substituted for "Hillary Clinton"?

I'd think everyone would find that offensive? :shrug:

[Laurab]

190. It appears at least some of them are......

I sure hope they get paid for posting THAT drivel!

[okoboji]

88. wow

if that were true ... wouldn't Obama be getting a visit from Homeland Security? you with all that wire tapping going on and all.


just asking here

[SoCalDem]

96. Freeps are hotlinking your picture

wanna change the url to something disgusting and freak them out :evilgrin:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1973319/posts

[VolcanoJen]

121. Hmmm.... that's not a bad idea!

Gosh, I love us evil DUers. }(

[liberalhistorian]

125. Good God, there are actually

freeps on there dumb enough to believe that Obama would really get such a call. LOL. Or, at least it'd be funny if they weren't so stupid and if there weren't already people who believe Obama's a threat just because of his name and who believe the internet nonsense about him being a Muslim and refusing to put his hand on the bible, etc., etc., blahblahblah.

And it's truly funny that they call CNN the Clinton News Network when it's anything but. Sheesh.

[onehandle]

162. Why? DU = Free Republic. nt

[Emit]

103. You should start your own thread, VolcanoJen

This is wrong, and needs more coverage and attention

edited to add, :thumbsup: for capturing that shot for the OPer and for your good work

[sniffa]

110. Made a new thread for this

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=4681189&mesg_id=4681189

[liberalhistorian]

126. Thanks, Sniffa!

Appreciate the effort!

[Ian_rd]

115. Thank you for the proof. I needed it.

Good work. Thanks again.

Freakin' MSM assholes. You can see what the General Election campaigns will be like now if Obama gets the nom. I can see Niel Cavuto already: "Is Obama allied to terrorists who want to kill you? And does he want to date your white daughter?"

[Renew Deal]

116. 2nd big catch on DU in 2 days

This and delegatehub.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

117. VolcanoJen, I think I love you!

Great work!

Thank you and thank you to, liberalhistorian!!

[VolcanoJen]

135. Thank the Eagle Eyes of our own liberalhistorian!

I just rewound my Tivo, is all. :-)

I really am a little surprised this hasn't gone beyond DU and Freepland yet. I mean, is it just me? I actually think this is pretty disgusting, and even if Magic Rat is right about the steno error, I'd like to hear that officially from CNN, you know?

[Lone_Star_Dem]

143. I, personally, consider it a big deal.

It reeks of the same tactics used in the mass emailing smears. Even if it was an accident, it's not something that should go uncorrected.

[Blue-Jay]

146. and THIS, ladies and gentlemen, is why Jen fuckin' rocks!

Good catch from the OP too.

:thumbsup:

[jhrobbins]

155. Or just maybe that's Anderson Cooper's thought bubble

[Kajsa]

159. Not A Mistake!

Holy crap indeed!

I grade papers for English and ESL classes.
I've seen hundreds of honest mistakes in spelling/grammar.

THIS ISN'T ONE OF THEM!

The words are too far apart- No Way, No How!

Thanks, Liberalhistorian and Jen!

:grouphug:

This is not an error- it's deliberate!

:grr:

[Canuckistanian]

168. I'm sure it was a typo - "Hillary Clinton" is vey similar to "Al Qaeda"

Other than the fact that the number of letters don't match, almost NO common letters are used and the phrases don't even sound the same, it's a perfect match.

[guyanakoolaid]

206. You're missing your chance to goatse the Free Republic

I just don't know if I could pass up an opportunity like that.

[elixir]

144. Good idea...

[casus belli]

14. Kinda like the hidden art in Disney paintings...

you shou;ld definitely file a complaint with your service provider or with the station directly. While probably a prank by some young college Republican intern or something, it doesn't have any place in political coverage.

[defendandprotect]

172. WHAT "hidden art in Disney paintings" . . . ?

[Divine Discontent]

185. naughty images drawn into a few animation drawings, cannot recall which ones n/t

[defendandprotect]

189. tsk, tsk . . . !!!

This is, presumably, a joke on Disney?
Not Disney creating the design?

[Divine Discontent]

191. correct... the artist adding it in against anyone's knowledge eom

[THUNDER HANDS]

17. it's possible the captioner had two shortforms that were very similiar and slipped

I'm a stenographer, I know how the closed captioning process works. It's possible they had a set stroke on their keypad that types Hillary Clinton and Al Queda in one stroke, and they just hit it accidentially.

Once it goes out, it's there, you can't delete it.

It's possible that's what happened.

Although just from that I don't know why Al Queda and Hillary Clinton would be mistaken.

I'd type it, if I was doing it A-L KAI DA* and HIL-REIU KLIN TON ... but that's if I had to write it out without having a shortform already made up.

[liberalhistorian]

24. I don't doubt your experience, Magic, but I just

can't see how this could be a mistake in any way at all. And, just like you say, why would Al Quada be mistaken for Hillary Clinton, even if it happened as you say it might have?

I know many repub pundits have been itching for a chance to tie Obama/Osama together, and especially riff on his middle name, Hussein. But they're not even being subtle anymore.

[THUNDER HANDS]

29. yeah, but it's not the network

the network has nothing to do with the captioners. They're all contracted out to captioning companies. And it's not unlikely it was an honest mistake. To do what the closed captioners do is VERY DIFFICULT and VERY STRESSFUL.

If you look at how you type on your home computer, if you're lucky, you can do anywhere between 35 and 75 words a minute - these captioners have to do at LEAST 300 wpm. And they don't get to take a break on breaking news days like this because there are no commercials. So the whole time you're watching the news, there's some lady or some guy sitting at home (and they do this from home) and typing out all this stuff for hours on end, without a break, while their arms and back and hands are getting exhausted.

It's extremely likely this was just a freak error.

[liberalhistorian]

31. I don't doubt any of that, believe me.

I have no doubt that that is an extremely stressful, demanding job, especially on high news days like this. HOWEVER. I still just cannot see how this could have been an honest mistake. There is no similarity whatsoever between Al Quada and Hillary Clinton, none. There is no way it could have been misheard.

[THUNDER HANDS]

39. well, now that I think about it

the captioner, if they were lazy, and being very risky with their shortforms, could have L-K for Al Queda and H-K for Hillary Clinton.

On a stenograph machine, to make an L you have to hit the H and R keys at the same time. So if this person's finger slipped in an attempt to type H-K, they could have hit the R key as well and ended up with an L - making it L-K (or Al Queda).

That might have happened, but it is very curious.

[liberalhistorian]

33. Would the same cc have gone out

on all stations nationally for CNN? Or does each local network that carries CNN have their own captioning? In other words, would this only have been seen in my coverage area, or nationally?

[THUNDER HANDS]

35. I'm not sure, but I'd guess it would be one captioner for all if it was national

it's not like a local tv newscast where each market would have their own captioner for each broadcast, but I could be wrong. It would seem more logical that way.

[intheflow]

64. It must be national

since you live in the Dakotas and VolcanoJen lives in Ohio.

[King Coal]

156. Thanks to LibHist and Jen. Good catch and good tivo-work. I can't believe anyone would believe it.

Blowback will happen.

[MediaBabe]

36. Thanks for the inside info

It is so nice when people post little bits of their own special knowledge about how the world works.

[Danascot]

66. Thanks for your insight, Magic

though I'm inclined to believe the captioner was screwing around and showing his RW bias ... and if so, should be fired for it.

[ecstatic]

18. WHY TF aren't these "news" networks FINED when they pull sh1t like this

They fined CBS 500K over a minuscule nipple that only the most perverted /obsessed TIVO viewers saw, but then crap like this is allowed to go on unchecked.

[THUNDER HANDS]

21. it's not the network

it's the captioning company.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

107. Diebold Captioning LLC

[MonkeyFunk]

207. A couple reasons

Typographical errors aren't against the law.

Telling the truth isn't a legal requirement.

The FCC doesn't have jurisdiction over the content of cable networks.

[ShortnFiery]

20. Psst! It's Uncle KKKarl performing another smarmy "dirty trick"

:eyes:

[K Gardner]

22. People.. they've been DOING THIS. I saw a picture of one of the guys

that was hanged with Saddam labeled with Obama's name a couple weeks ago. This is nothing made up. Its happening.

[Name removed]

25. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[liberalhistorian]

28. Excuse me?

WTF is that supposed to mean? And I don't know who YOU are, either. I've been here for five years, how long have you been here?

Did you even read the OP, or did you just assume something?

[faithfulcitizen]

32. ROTFL....why did you say this to the OP?

:freak: too funny....:rofl:

[MediaBabe]

34. Shush now and maybe consider taking a nap

Then tomorrow read the post again before you ignore her. You may be pleasantly suprised that no offense against any was expressed nor intended.

[Emit]

40. First the MSNBC thing and now this?

too much --

Is there someone to complain to for this? Would it be CNN or whomever is responsible for the CC?

[kerry-is-my-prez]

132. What happened with MSNBC?

n/t

[stillcool]

148. On Chris Matthew's show...

They had a picture of Osama bin Laden with quotes of Senator Obama on top of it. I think Tweets made some acknowledgment of the 'mistake' further on in his program. Such a coincidence, no?

Here's the link to Media Matters that has the picture up..
http://mediamatters.org/items/200802190002?f=h_top

[defendandprotect]

173. Mistake? Error? What crap--!! No chance that they hire people who

control photos and graphics who actually KNOW the prominent people in the world?

What GE/MSNBC is saying is that Bin Lade and Obama are interchangeable ---

...like who would know the difference!!!???

Chris Matthews is garbage who I doubt ever had a soul to sell --- !!!

[intheflow]

49. Please report this to Media Matters.

http://mediamatters.org/

Media Matters for America is a Web-based, not-for-profit, 501(c)(3) progressive research and information center dedicated to comprehensively monitoring, analyzing, and correcting conservative misinformation in the U.S. media.

Send news tips about conservative misinformation to Media Matters here: [email protected]

Damn, this was disturbing to read. :(

[liberalhistorian]

54. VolcanoJen just posted the

screenshots captured from her TIVO above, and said she'd sent it along with this thread to Talking Points Memo and Media Matters. You're correct, that's exactly who should be told.

[boppers]

58. Niiiiiccce.

:kick:

[redstate_democrat]

60. THIS IS RIDICULOUS

This is shameful. CNN should be embarrassed and ashamed. How can anyone take them seriously now?

[TexasObserver]

62. CNN has many Clintonistas fudging facts and spinning to try to help Hillary

[Metric System]

68. You blame this on the Clintons? Seriously?!? Ugh. n/t

[racaulk]

212. That's all he does, just attacks the Clintons and their supporters for no reason.

Check other posts by this user (almost 3,000 in 3 weeks!) and you'll see what I mean.

[liberalhistorian]

70. Oh, please! First of all, I wouldn't call them

Clintonistas, and, second, it's just ridiculous to blame it on them in the slightest.

[uppityperson]

63. k&r for damn librul broadcasting.

[Vinca]

71. I thought this was a joke thread until I saw the captured screen.

This is one of the most disgusting things I've ever seen. How can they get away with this total bullshit? I'm off to email them.

[Snarkturian Clone]

74. CC typers use macros.

They probably had a button for "Hillary Clinton" and a button for "Al Quada" because those words are spoken often on CNN. The typist probably hit the wrong button by accident. It happens quite often. I remember watching a sports game and when the announcer said "Ladies and gentlemen, please rise for the national anthem", the CC said "Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, please rise for the national anthem."

on edit: I see that this point was addressed above. Let this be a lesson to ye to read all messages before posting.

[THUNDER HANDS]

77. thank you

speaking of football games, I remember watching closed captioning once where Dick Butkus was honored, and the caption read Dick Butt Kiss.

:D

[renate]

124. ROFL!

That's so funny!

Thanks for your explanations of how captioning is done--really interesting!

[pengillian101]

139. Dick Butkus = Dick Butt Kiss

Too funny!

Thanks, Magic Rat for your steno insider scoop. Makes sense to me that the transcriber is just typing what s/he hears as fast as they can and hit the wrong shortcut key on the machine.

[defendandprotect]

174. ...and transcribers frequently make CORRECTIONS . . . especially

when they realize they hit the wrong key for an individual --- !!!

[Pacifist Patriot]

205. I see that alot when watching CC on news broadcasts.

Almost always with names or place names. Which makes one wonder where there wasn't a quick correction in this case. *shrug* Whatever

[Mr.Fitzgibbons]

80. Is this really serious? Can someone get in touch with the CNN people to ask? Or that moron O'Reilly

and Rush will be ALL OVER this. How bizarre.

[liberalhistorian]

83. I think you misunderstood. The closed captioning

on the TV said "Al Quada called Barack to congratulate him", while what Anderson Cooper was really saying was that Hillary Clinton had called Barack to congratulate her.

[L. Coyote]

89. Might there be some violation of the law? Regulations of broadcasting?

Or, can the person behind this be sued in a civil action of any kind?

We need to know who was behind this action, not just who did it!

[sellitman]

90. Mother Fuckers! n/t

[dailykoff]

94. Welcome to the CIA network.

You didn't know?

[bluedawg12]

95. the CC typists make crazy mistakes all the time

I wouldn't give this too much coverage- we just end up passing around mis-info. IMHO.

[jhrobbins]

157. Hey you-quit trying to inject reason and sense into this chaos clusterfuck

[newportdadde]

97. Sometimes CC skips words people. They probably said Al Qaeda earlier and it got split into the next

sentence. My wife and I have 4 kids 4 and under, we aren't hearing imparied ourselves but with all the noise we always have CC on. Closed Captioning has a lot of issues especially on live TV and commentator TV like CNN or MSNBC because people are talking so fast.

Its not uncommon for the CC to get behind and end a sentence in the middle of the sentence and then even skip an entire sentence and start back up in the middle of the third sentence. I've seen some pretty crazy things.

[IsItJustMe]

104. There is a pattern here. I for one, find it very troubling when the CC just happens to fall in that

pattern.

[treestar]

178. Yeah, that kind of error never happens to say, McCain

They didn't cover Al Qaeda calling him to give their congratulations!

[liberalhistorian]

130. Oh, after several years, I'm well aware of what cc is like

during live programs. But I was watching CNN for quite awhile before that, and they did not mention Al Quada at any time.

[catgirl]

102. They meant to say Hillary called to congratulate him

How funny!

[still_one]

105. If you saw this, the Barrack campaign should be called, and CNN MUST be exposed

This is no joking matter, and it is an outrage

It was wrong for NBC to use dispariging words to Hillary, and this should be flung right back at CNN also

This country is regressing

[IsItJustMe]

108. ..

[Whisp]

109. kick!

[Vinca]

112. Has anyone sent this to Olbermann?

Not that MSNBC is any great shakes these days, given the Tweety incident. In any case, I still have faith in KO.

[dave123williams]

113. Get used to that; the powers that be will do *anything* to smear him out of the race now...

[NashVegas]

114. There's Not Much He Can Do About That, Other Than Refuse the Call

It'd be kind of like McCain taking a call from Eric Rudolf.

[kdpeters]

118. I've seen that happen before. It was no accident.

The CC typist was probably some right-wing religious nutcase and felt it his/her prerogative to censor the information that deaf and hard-of-hearing people get.

My partner is deaf and am in a program to become an ASL interpreter. These issues really burn me up. I'm not complaining about misheard words while typing from a live broadcast. I understand how it can happen and I know I couldn't approach 10% accuracy if I had to do it. God bless them for the service they provide.

I'm talking about clear and blatant censorship. I have noticed a handful of occasions where there was CLEAR censorship by the person typing up the captions. Most of the time, it's censoring profane or vulgar language that is clearly spoken in the dialog. Now, I can see where maybe a person might feel a little squeamish, but that's part of the job. They are not supposed to censor ANYTHING even if it makes them blush. Their job is to make the information accessible as faithfully as they can. It's patronizing and unethical to edit for content.

There was one occasion while watching Washington Journal on C-SPAN and the topic had something to do with gay issues. EVERY TIME a person said the word "gay" or spoke of gay people, the typist substituted "bumblebum" for the word "gay". It was clear censorship and clear homophobia. Just like substituting "Al Qaeda" for "Hillary", it isn't plausible to be an honest mistake.

I was livid. Since I have Tivo, I backtracked to make sure I had really seen what I thought I had just seen. I watched it several times to make sure. I'm sure that's what has happened here. There's a not insignificant percentage of people who start learning sign language and associating with deaf people for religious proselytizing reasons. There's really not anything wrong with that in itself, but to someone who entered the field to "spread the word of God", it poses a conflict of interest to be in a professional situation requiring them to spread words counter to their idea of God's word.

Thanks for bringing these issues up. I'm recommending your post.

[liberalhistorian]

122. I've noticed that a lot with cc, too.

I use closed captioning, but I'm not totally deaf and can also at least somewhat hear what's being said at the same time and I've seen what you describe many, many, many times. Can't count how many times at this point. It's truly infuriating.

[kdpeters]

134. During the Republican convention 2004 ...

I was watching coverage of the march against the war during the convention. I was pleasantly surprised that they made an effort to caption whatever could be heard -- which wasn't a whole lot, but every now and then, a crowd would be chanting clearly and they'd caption it.

The CSPAN cameras were apparently close to Fox News or something to do with Fox News because there were quite a few moments where the crowd erupted chanting "Fuck Fox News" or "Fox News Sucks". The first few times it came across in CC as:

_ Fox News! _ Fox News!
or
Fox News _! Fox News _!

with the naughty words redacted. Now, if I can hear what thy were clearly saying, why should my partner have to turn to me and ask me why they were cheering for Fox News? It's just so patronizing and offensive to me when a person whose job is to relay information takes it upon themselves to protect people from information. I could tell later on that the typist must have changed when suddenly everything was typed as heard naughty words and all. Then it was clear that they were definitely NOT cheering in support of Fox News.

[liberalhistorian]

136. That's absolutely correct; the patronizing is

really offensive and I've never quite gotten used to it. It was one of the first things I noticed when I first got my closed captioned tv several years ago. And I know exactly what you mean, I could fill a book with these kinds of things. And, as you say above, they always seem to be in favor of repubs or the RW.

I don't remember the specific incident you're talking about during the convention march coverage, but I have no trouble at all believing it since I've seen similar incidents. Really infuriating.

[liberalhistorian]

123. Oops, delete.

Dupe.

[Pacifist Patriot]

194. The only way it would be an honest mistake is if the transcriptionists...

mind drifted and he or she honestly thought Anderson Cooper said Al Qaeda.

On the other hand, I use closed captioning alot! I am not deaf, but I have noisy children and noisy birds...as well as a noisy elliptical machine. I put on closed captioning to make sure I don't miss anything.

I agree with you. I don't think people realize how often censorship is imposed on the hearing impaired. I once saw an exchange between pundits where the words "Republican" and "Democrat" were repeatedly...repeatedly transcribed as "Republican" and "Dumcrat." It is infuriating.

[Joe Chi Minh]

133. More like Al Quaida's old buddies, the CIA, taking it upon themselves

to "speak on their behalf.... "

The Republicans must be experiencing a very violent loosening of the bowels. Brown trousers time. A Democratic landslide must be so difficult to nullify, no matter how much recent practice you've had.

[svpadgham]

140. Seems like

everyone feels like they are only associating Obama with Al Quaeda. It is possible that this could have been a dig at Clinton as well. Hillary Clinton=Al Quaeda. CNN killing two birds with one stone.

[jwirr]

141. They should be sued.

[LSK]

142. because he thinks the war on terror should be fought were Al Queda is???

:wtf:

[Truthiness08]

145. Response

Why does it matter who the hell Al Quada indorses? I wouldn't be surprised if they did endorse both democratic candidates, because their beliefs are so different just to show their disapproval.
As to CNN mistaking "Hilary" with "Al Quada" on purpuse for some republican agenda that is just crap. CNN is a liberal news station. If you’re complaining about this being a slight against Obama I seriously doubt it was on purpose. CNN has all, but announced an endorsement for Obama. Hilary has definitely been painted in a worse light.

[GrantDem]

165. Hmmmm....

:freak:

[shenmue]

147. CNN is part of the global conspiracy!!!1!1

:tinfoilhat:

Is this shit even real? Honestly. You couldn't have written a better script.

Aside from the fact that it makes no sense, I don't think anybody is calling anybody.

[Kurovski]

150. Maybe it's time to start fining networks for "errors" like these.

[Name removed]

151. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. 
[link:www.democraticunderground.com/forums/rules.html|Click
here] to review the message board rules.

[onehandle]

160. Closed captioning makes mistakes ALL OF THE TIME.

DU has really lost it.

[liberalhistorian]

170. Yes, they certain do, no question.

But after eight years of using cc, I've seen far more than enough "mistakes" that really weren't. And, as another poster here familiar with cc says, their mistakes always appear to be on the side of republicans and the RW. And I've seen deliberate changings or removals of words, etc. I do not believe that this was an accident.

[defendandprotect]

175. Let us know when you see "Al Qaeda called John McCain to congratulate him" . . !!!

[VolcanoJen]

186. "DU has really lost it"

Indeed. I remember a time when DU was more skeptical of the media, too. We've been treated so fairly by them since the existence of DU, after all. :eyes:

[Yael]

166. If you liked that, you will LOVE this one (Monday on MSNBC)

When they popped the graphic up, Tweety is saying, "What did Barack Obama say and why is he causing controversy?"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdgF4C5PjTo

[1620rock]

181. You mean to tell me that in this day and age someone actually

sits at a keyboard and speed types closed captioning for hours on end??? wouldn't they have some kind of an automatic computer programed bot to do this??

[Dukkha]

167. FUCKING WOW! Do they think no one is recording their shows?

Do they think no one will complain? Their fucking stupidity is amazing.

[defendandprotect]

177. These are fanatical, ignorant, aggressive people -- look at our political violence ...

over the past decades . . . !!!

And the more I think about it, the more I think it's believable that many religious fanatics
have given the GOP an assist with "voting problems" -- and perhaps things like this???

[Pacifist Patriot]

193. I don't think a typo explains the problem, but is it possible...

the stenographer innocently "misheard" Anderson Cooper and that Al Qaeda is what he or she thought Cooper said? I've seen some truly hilarious closed captioning. Have you ever seen someone live at a convention try to transcribe a bunch of Hungarian and Romanian names into English CC? Now I'm not saying that Hillary Clinton is a name that would give a stenographer fits like this, but what if the person did honestly think that Anderson Cooper said Al Quaeda? It's not the easiest job to type as someone is talking. They've already gone on to their next sentence while the stenographer's brain is still processing what they've just said. It could be a cognitive hiccup like that.

I believe it is entirely possible this was:

A deliberate malicious transcription.

A deliberate mischievious transcription.

An inadvertant misunderstood transcription.

What I don't believe is a typo. That just doesn't make sense to me that one word would be clear with an accepted English spelling instead of garbled. Most typos in closed captioning are either garbled or close to what the word is supposed to be.

Edited to add my response to someone above who legitimately pointed out a pattern in CC

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=4674045&mesg_id=4694274

[goddess40]

195. Damn liberal media nt

[BlueinBushCountry]

197. Calm down, everyone. Jeesh. The captioner made a mistake

Okay, I actually know something about how captioning is done and I read and write steno. Here is why this is an easy mistake and not some terrible conspiracy:

Here's a picture of the layout of the keyboard they use.



The way it works is they can actually strike all letters at once, rather than one at a time like a QWERTY keyboard, so they can write a whole word in one handstroke instead of a single letter. The letters on the left are the first letters of a syllable, the vowels in the middle, and the letters on the right are the last letters in a syllable. So if they want to write the word "Cat" (which is done phonetically) they would strike the K on the left, A with the thumb in the middle, and T with the right hand, which would come out looking like this on the print:

K A T
And then a computer translates that to "cat" using a dictionary of words that have previously been entered and translated.

Now.
You'll notice not all of the letters are on there. For instance, there's no L on the left side. So they use combinations of other letters to form the letters that aren't on there. In the case of L, they strike the H and R on the left side together. So "let" would look like this:

HR E T

They use a lot of shortcuts (they call em "briefs") since they can only do a syllable at a time, and when someone's talking fast you have to keep up. So they can use one short stroke like UFL for unfortunately. That way there're only one stroke instead of four for every syllable in the word.

So. If her brief form for Hillary Clinton was H-K (there's no K on the right, so BG is used for K) it would look like this:

H BG

And if Al Qaeda was L-K (very plausible, IMO) it would look like this:

HR BG


So you can see how that's an honest and easy mistake if her fingers were tired. :) I don't know much about much, but I do know steno, so I just had to register and comment.

[THUNDER HANDS]

198. THANK YOU

I've been trying to explain this and I was just about to start a new post to do just this.

Excellent job, and welcome to DU!!!

Are you a fellow court reporter? Or do you just know this stuff from some other job?

[BlueinBushCountry]

201. Not a reporter

I was a scopist. I figured you must be a CR from your posts on this thread. :) I think we're going to be drowned out, though, because it's much more fun to believe CNN is trying to subliminally smear than to believe honest, hard-working people make mistakes sometimes. :crazy:

[THUNDER HANDS]

202. cool

I haven't used a scopist yet. When I get more work I might start.

Thanks again!

[npincus]

199. that's a BIG fucking mistake that needs a retraction!

[THUNDER HANDS]

200. it was a typographical error, and it wasn't from CNN either

who would do the retraction? The captioner? The captioning company?

Would they have to retract every time an error comes up?

[Infinite Hope]

203. Are any news stations taking this issue up? Someone should be fired. n/t

[0007]

210. Yeah, Hmmmmmmm.............That's what I say.

[mtnsnake]

211. Wow, over 50,000 hits on this thread!

That probably means that 250,000 people read the headline and didn't hit on it. I hope they don't believe this really happened. Yikes.