Subtitling of Important TV Broadcasts

Ms Denise Phua Lay Peng asked the Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts whether his Ministry would consider the provision of subtitling for all important TV broadcasts such as the National Day Rally, General Elections and those relating to national security so that the hearing-impaired population has access to the information.

The Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts (Assoc Prof Dr Yaacob Ibrahim): Sir, the Government recognises the need to ensure that programmes of national significance such as the National Day Rally and Elections programmes are accessible to all segments of our society, including the hearing-impaired community.

Let me first share with Members of the House that efforts have been made over the years to cater to our society's diverse information and entertainment needs. Today, news bulletins on most of the free-to-air TV channels carry subtitles. The successful implementation of news subtitling has been made possible through a partnership between the Government and MediaCorp, in consultation with the Singapore Association for the Deaf.

In addition, Sir, subtitles are also provided for several Public Service Broadcast (PSB) TV programmes. These include children's programmes, current affairs programmes, documentaries and drama series. Furthermore, MediaCorp also ensures that resources are dedicated to the provision of subtitles for programmes on prime time, since this is when most viewers are tuned in.

Page: 740

With regards to Ms Phua's concerns, I would like to assure the hon. Member that both MICA, MCYS and the Media Development Authority (MDA), together with the national broadcaster, MediaCorp, are committed to do more to provide the hearing-impaired community with access to programmes of national significance. I am pleased to share that MDA has initiated discussions with MediaCorp to identify feasible solutions that can be delivered in a cost effective manner. However, I also seek the Member's understanding that such subtitling solutions can be resource-intensive, especially for "live" broadcasts; so we need to find a solution that is both practical and sustainable.

Ms Denise Phua Lay Peng: Sir, I thank the Minister for the support. I know MICA has always been very supportive, even under the previous Minister. A supplementary question, Sir. I refer back to my question – so when will MICA be open to consider the provision of subtitling for the National Day Rally, the General Elections and other broadcasts relating to national security, for example, when there are national disasters and so forth?

Assoc Prof Dr Yaacob Ibrahim: Sir, as I have mentioned in my reply, we are studying ways together with MediaCorp to find feasible solutions. And, the case with the National Day Rally for the script of the Prime Minister's actual delivery is not available because it is not delivered verbatim. It is difficult for us to provide the subtitles immediately. But it is possible for the subsequent telecasts which are delayed, although again it depends on the time that we broadcast the speech immediately after the "live" telecast. Bear in mind that because of the difficulty faced with "live" broadcasts depends on when the speeches are made available, MediaCorp had provided some solutions, in terms of providing captions, to summarise some of the key messages during the Rally and when the written speech is posted online.

Mr Speaker: Ms Phua, last question.

Ms Denise Phua Lay Peng: Thank you, Sir. I thank the Minister for his answer. The deaf community has expressed a high interest in, for example, the Prime Minister's National Day Rally. I would suggest that if it is really not possible to subtitle everything, then at least provide other solutions like signing for these important messages, and especially for national security as well. National security messages are important. The deaf cannot hear the messages and they need help.

Assoc Prof Dr Yaacob Ibrahim: We share the Member's concern. In terms of signing, we have, in fact, consulted the Singapore Association for the Deaf because we are not the experts. There are different modes of signing available. We can choose to go with the one that goes word by word, which is very slow, or we can go what is called "native language signing" which is by a group of words. Again, it will be very difficult. I want to assure the Member that we are exploring the solutions together with the experts in MediaCorp to try as much as possible for all programmes of national significance to have them available to our hearing-impaired community.