Jan 11: The Media Development Authority is working with broadcaster MediaCorp to find practical and cost-effective ways to ensure Singapore's deaf community has access to programmes of national significance, said Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts Yaacob Ibrahim in Parliament yesterday.

He was responding to Member of Parliament (Moulmein-Kallang GRC) Denise Phua's question on whether the ministry would consider subtitling all important television broadcasts, such as the National Day Rally, General Election and those relating to national security. The minister noted that "subtitling solutions can be resource-intensive, especially for live broadcasts; so we need to find a solution that is practical and sustainable".

Current efforts include captions to summarise the Prime Minister's National Day Rally speech and posting the written speech online. News bulletins on most free-to-air TV channels as well as several public service broadcast TV programmes also carry subtitles.

Source: http://www.todayonline.com