Do you love standards and style guides like I love standards and style guides?
Using an AI broadcast closed caption service, I noticed that the captions looked off. That’s because this specific ASR autocaption service does not start a new caption line after sentence-ending punctuation.
Live captioners start a new caption line whenever a sentence ends. The National Court Reporting Association (NCRA) Guidelines state that stenographers should start a new caption line whenever they write a period, exclamation mark, or question mark.
Starting a new line at the end of a sentence increases readability and comprehension.
I know what I like in captions, but my preference does not mean that I’m right. Better to seek out a standard.
I’ve observed that all human stenographer live captioners start a new caption line after ? ! or .
So, there must be a rule about it, right?
NCRA Captioning Community of Interest
Realtime Broadcast Captioning:
Recommended Style and Format Guidelines
For U.S. Programming
“Punctuation Periods, question marks, and exclamation points are followed by a new line.”
When I offline caption content, I can tell my caption software to start a new caption line after end-of-sentence punctuation. It’s automatic.
But if I understand the NRCA Guide correctly, a live captioner has to manually enter a command to start a new caption line after end-of-sentence punctuation.
And that is why live captions usually start a new line after sentence-ending punctuation.
PBS Example:
AMNA NAWAZ: GOOD EVENING.
I’M AMNA NAWAZ.
GEOFF BENNETT: AND I’M GEOFF
BENNETT.
ON THE “NEWSHOUR” TONIGHT: NIKKI
HALEY HOPES TO GAIN GROUND ON
FORMER PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP
IN NEW HAMPSHIRE, WHERE
REPUBLICANS ARE DECIDING WHICH
CANDIDATE SHOULD BE THEIR
PARTY’S PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE.
AMNA NAWAZ: THE WAR IN GAZA SEES
ONE OF ITS DEADLIEST DAYS YET
FOR ISRAELI FORCES, AS A BRUTAL
GROUND OFFENSIVE GRINDS ON WITH
CIVILIANS CAUGHT IN THE CROSSFIRE.
WE SPEAK TO THE UNITED NATIONS’
TOP HUMAN RIGHTS OFFICIAL.
MARTIN GRIFFITHS, U.N.
UNDERSECRETARY-GENERAL FOR
HUMANITARIAN AFFAIRS AND
EMERGENCY RELIEF COORDINATOR:
THE CENTRAL ASPECT OF THE
TRAGEDY OF GAZA, IN MY VIEW,
IS THE TOTAL UNCERTAINTY
FOR CIVILIANS ABOUT WHAT’S GOING
TO HAPPEN TO THEM NEXT.
GEOFF BENNETT: AND THE PARENTS
OF A MASS SHOOTER FACE A
MANSLAUGHTER TRIAL OVER WHETHER
THEY CAN BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR
THEIR ACTIONS AND INACTIONS.
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