Education Secretary Riley Responds to Senators on Springer Caption Funding

Honorable Joseph I. Lieberman
United States Senate
Washington D.C. 20510

Dear Joe:

Thank you for your letter requesting that the Department cut off captioning for "Jerry Springer Show." I am sending an identical response to Senator Coats.

Although I personally have not viewed "The Jerry Springer Show," all reports suggest to me that it is tasteless entertainment. Nevertheless, the broader issue that you have raised is whether this Department should decide which television programs should be captioned and which should not be captioned for the more than 21 million Americans who are deaf or hard of hearing. As you know, funding for closed-captioned television programming is currently authorized under Part D of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), as amended in 1997. The Department has always viewed the purpose of this program as providing deaf and hard of hearing individuals the same broad access to these media that is enjoyed by hearing Americans.

We believe this clearly is Congressional policy as well, as demonstrated through direct funding and the leveraging of private financing under this program, and through prospective FCC requirements on broadcasters to air captioned programs. The Senate Committee Report, for example, explaining the statutory limitation of captioning to educational, news and informational programs beginning in 2001 makes clear that the transition to private financing "of all broadcast television will be well underway...on prospective FCC requirements" [S. Rep. No. based 105-17 at 39 (1997)].

The Department has made a serious effort to ensure that the views of deaf and hard of hearing individuals are considered in deciding which programs to caption. For example, our criteria require that applicants for a captioning grant take into account the preferences of consumers when selecting programs for captioning. The National Captioning Institute (NCI), the grantee that captions maintains close ties with "The Jerry Springer Show," the captioning audience it serves through affiliations with many national and community groups for people who are deaf or hard of hearing. NCI also has a Consumer Advisory Board that comprises national leaders of the deaf community, and five members of NCI's Board of Directors are deaf or hard of hearing. Both groups provide regular feedback to NCI about captioning services. Consumer preferences are also assessed through mail surveys, focus groups and attendance at conferences and workshops for national deaf or hard of hearing associations. NCI also uses its newsletters, toll-free telephone numbers and the Internet to provide vehicles for consumers to inform NCI of their preferences.

Even with the best of intentions, your request would require the Department to supersede the individual judgment of millions of deaf Americans who have worked long and hard to make sure that they have full standing as citizens in this society. Just a few weeks ago the students of Gallaudet College marched to the Capitol to commemorate the 10th Anniversary of the appointment of I. King Jordan as President of Gallaudet. As you may well remember, the fight to have a deaf person appointed to head Gallaudet came to symbolize for many deaf Americans their determination to demand full citizenship in our society.

This is why I believe the best approach to dealing with "The Jerry Springer Show" is to affirm the faith you and I share in the common sense and good judgment of deaf Americans to make their own decisions about how to live their lives, including which television programs they choose to watch, and which programs they choose to turn off. As distasteful as "The Jerry Springer Show" may be to you and me, I do not believe it should be the role of this Department in administering the captioning program to single out particular television programs and make a cultural judgment that individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing will be denied the same access to those programs that are watched by America's hearing community. While I share your concerns about "The Jerry Springer Show," I ultimately hope that enough individual Americans will turn off the television and send a message to advertisers that they will not watch this type of programming.

The access of children to such programs raises different and more profound concerns. As you know, this Administration has given high priority to strengthening the ability of parents and families to determine what television viewing is appropriate for their children. This is an issue that is important to me personally as a grandfather of small children. On March 12, Vice President Gore announced that the FCC is taking action that should result in the availability of V-Chips as early as this year that will give parents the capacity to limit what shows their children watch. If deaf parents and grandparents are to be able to exercise this responsibility, they need to have captioning so they can judge the full range of programs to which their children may be exposed.

As your letter notes, under the IDEA Amendments Act of 1997, effective in 2001 the types of programs that may be captioned will be limited to educational, news and informational programs, which presumably will exclude limitation "The Jerry Springer Show." That is based on an expectation that FCC action will require privately-financed captioning of virtually all television shows by that time. Until then, I believe we have the obligation to continue the current policy.

Yours sincerely,

Richard W. Riley