By Frank Ahrens
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, May 27, 2005

The Federal Communications Commission has proposed fining three Washington area television stations for failing to provide adequate closed-caption information for hearing-impaired viewers during a tornado watch in May 2004.

NBC-owned WRC (Channel 4), ABC affiliate WJLA (Channel 7) and Fox-owned WTTG (Channel 5) face proposed fines totaling $40,000, the FCC said yesterday.

As dangerous thunderstorms and tornado conditions bore down on Washington on May 25, 2004, local weather broadcasters told viewers in certain areas they should take cover but failed to relay the same information in closed captions, the FCC reported. Under federal law, broadcasters are required to provide emergency information in both audio and visual form, whether by closed captioning or a similar presentation.

One viewer wrote to the FCC: "[Fox] cut into the screen during 'American Idol' for news about the weather. From this visual (with no captions), it look[ed] like the bad weather might be in Maryland. I was totally confused."

The FCC investigation found that, at 9:02 p.m., WRC meteorologist Bob Ryan told viewers to move away from windows and toward a bathroom or basement if they sensed high winds but failed to provide the information in any visual form.

An $8,000 fine is proposed against WJLA, which failed to display closed-caption information during one storm report. The other stations each face $16,000 fines because they each failed to provide the closed captioning during two reports.

The stations can appeal the fines.