How a Google mix-up on YouTube left PM's real message

John Key. Photo / Mark Mitchell

It is well known that John Key is in China for trade talks and to promote New Zealand business interests. But few know he is planning an invasion of the people's republic.

But he is, according to subtitles on his online video diary.

Members of a deaf and hearing impaired association have long been calling for improved subtitles for the Prime Minister's monthly video newsletters on YouTube.

But in the meantime they have to put up with an experimental, automated voice-recognition service provided by Google, which produces garbled, mostly nonsensical subtitles.

Under the Transcribe Audio service, the Prime Minister's visit to Beijing was automatically translated to an invasion of China.

And Mr Key's description of a still day in Gallipoli was translated to a fist fight he had in Anzac Cove.

While some of the subtitles are amusing, it is not always a laughing matter for those with hearing loss.

Kim Robinson, from Blenheim, who is profoundly deaf, said the lack of captioning in state announcements and on television excluded a large portion of the population.

"This issue is important for all MPs, not just John Key," he said.

"The lack of access to official announcements from the Prime Minister ... and informative programmes like Q & A ... means that 239,000 New Zealanders over the age of 15 with a hearing loss are not able to act as active members of society."

The 39-year-old said he wrote to the Prime Minister's office after the election to request subtitles for the government's video messages, but had not heard back.

Mr Robinson's lack of access to the government's political messages is typical of his everyday struggle to get information - just 45 per cent of programmes on the main three TV channels have teletext subtitles.

Deaf Aotearoa chief executive Rachel Noble said New Zealand lagged behind many countries in terms of access to captions, and she wanted to see this addressed with urgency.

She has been working with TVNZ to boost its use of subtitles. But petitioning for online subtitles was much more difficult, she said.

Ms Noble said that the lack of captioning affected deaf people politically and socially.

"In order to make an informed vote during elections, we need to understand the issues being discussed by the politicians.

"As well, to be active New Zealanders, we wish to have access to captions on television programmes and major events such as large sporting fixtures."

Information technology commentator Peter Griffin said people's increasing dependence on the internet, including video, for information meant organisations and political parties would struggle to keep up with the rising cost of subtitling services.

Just over 1000 hours of programming are captioned per month at a cost of $1.9 million a year. The captions are delivered via the teletext system on TV ONE, TV2, TV3, TVNZ 6 and TVNZ 7.

Mr Griffin said automatic transcription technology was advancing quickly, "but if the audio is not perfect, it will always be a bit iffy".

The Prime Minister's office was unable to respond yesterday because he was in China, where he met Premier Wen Jiabao - or, as the subtitles called him, "Premier Win".