Tell the Whole Story: a new campaign to put audio description on TV

Transcript

8 March 2015   

Roberta: Media Access Australia CEO, Alex Varley, is here with us today to discuss a new campaign for getting audio description onto television services. This campaign is being led by Vision Australia but with the support of blindness organisations and the general public. Welcome, Alex.

Alex: Hi there, Roberta.

Roberta: Now, what has happened to get this campaign rolling?

Alex: Well, it's really interesting, Roberta. Your organisation, Vision Australia, has actually lodged five complaints about the lack of audio description on television and they've targeted the commercial networks, so Seven, Nine, Ten, SBS and also Foxtel, so the paid television channel. What they are basically saying is, look, we're fed up with waiting for this audio description because it's happening in other places around the world and I think the only way we're going to get any action is by actually putting some complaints into the Human Rights Commission and forcing them to the table. So they've been fairly modest about it all. They're asking for a 14-hours a week service, which was the same as the ABC trial but, yeah, really I think it's just utter frustration from blind and low-vision people.

Roberta: Why are the complaints against all of the television networks and not just one?

Alex: Well, I think what that's really showing is that the issue is a systemic one, so what that means is that really if you want to watch television you want to have the choice of channels. You don't want to say, "Oh, I'll be happy with just the ABC," or one of the others. So they've deliberately gone, "Right, okay, let's pick all of them." I think what that says to the industry as well is, "Guys, this is a serious issue. It's on in other places in the world. You know all about this and we're not singling out anyone. We just want a service and you should all be doing it. You should all be equally providing it."

Roberta: So does this mean then that the ABC complaints are resolved?

Alex: No, no, that's still ongoing. For your listeners who are not completely aware of that there's, I think, 28 complaints now against the ABC for similar reasons, for not providing a service, and the ABC is actually going to be launching an iPlayer service next month but that's still not a main television service. So they're still ongoing and this is really adding everybody else into the mix, so it's every television station in Australia now.

Roberta: So, why should, and how would, blind and low-vision people and their families and friends get involved?

Alex: Okay, well, this complaint is really the start of a formal process which is to say we're taking a legal action against the networks to get them to the table and to get everybody talking about this issue again. But of course the service is not just about Vision Australia. It's actually about all the blind and low-vision people in Australia and their families and one of the campaign components is Vision Australia has asked those people to get involved by actually talking about their own experiences and you can find that information either on the Vision Australia website or on the www.audiodescription.com.au website about how you can actually get involved. But it's about the general public saying, "We need this service."

Roberta: So, Alex, what is Media Access Australia's role in all of this?

Alex: Okay, well, obviously asking for an audio description service is a fairly straightforward thing to do and, "I just want a service." But there's a lot of things that need to go on behind the scenes in terms of how can it be organised, where will the programming come from, how does it work technically, are there any issues around how televisions work, how will it be promoted, all those kinds of things. That's where Media Access Australia has a lot of specialist expertise and contacts around the world. Our role, whilst we're obviously supporting a push for an audio description service across Australia, as we have been for many years, we're going to play much more of a background role to make sure that all those other components that will make it work properly can be delivered as well and that there aren't any attempts to use those ideas as excuses for not delivering a service because frankly there are no excuses.

Roberta: Now, we've talked about this before and there certainly are not and you were saying it's been for a few years. How many years has this been going on?

Alex: Well, I think I first started talking to some people in Blind Citizens Australia about this more than 15 years ago. So it's a long, long-term issue and, you know, even New Zealand has had it for three or four years now and so it's just totally time.

Roberta: Well, for more information on access to media through technology you can visit Media Australia's website at www.mediaaccess.org.au or you can call 02 92126242. Then there's the email, info@mediaaccess.org.au. Thank you, Alex, for all of that.

Alex: Thank you, Roberta.

Roberta: I've been speaking with Media Access Australia's CEO, Alex Varley. Media Access Australia is a supporter of this program.

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