Municipal meeting video captions: what to check before posting

Municipal meeting video captions need a review before staff share the recording. Check that the text matches what people said, appears at the right time and works in the player residents will use. Assign someone to correct errors and verify the published result.

Captions are text synchronized with a video's audio. They convey speech and meaningful sound information to people who cannot hear it. W3C's explanation of WCAG 2.1 Success Criterion 1.2.2 (opens in a new tab) also includes identifying who is speaking.

This is a publishing workflow for recorded meetings with audio. It does not determine a particular recording's legal status, replace live-meeting access planning or cover every video accessibility requirement.

Are automatic municipal meeting video captions ready to publish?

Treat automatic captions as a draft that needs checking. W3C's caption guidance (opens in a new tab) says automatically generated captions need confirmation of full accuracy and usually require significant editing. A visible CC button tells you a track exists; it does not tell you whether a resident can follow the discussion accurately.

Livingston County's communications guidance (opens in a new tab) calls for human review and correction of automatic captions before publication. The county's guidance addresses social media. Apply that review step to the meeting archive too, comparing the text with what each speaker actually said.

Make caption review an assigned step alongside adding the recording to the website. Confirm who has access to edit the caption track, who reviews it and who can publish corrections. If a recording vendor does the work, ask for a reviewed track and a way to report errors by timestamp.

What should staff check in the caption text?

Review the recording against the captions from beginning to end. Give the reviewer the agenda and a list of speakers or local terms to help verify spellings. Those references support the review; the audio determines what belongs in the captions.

Pay particular attention to:

• Names of speakers, streets and public bodies. A plausible spelling can still identify the wrong person or place.
• Numbers, dates and amounts. Check spoken figures against what the captions display.
• Motions and vote language. Preserve words such as "not" and distinguish a proposed action from a statement that it passed.
• Speaker changes and meaningful sounds. A reader needs enough context to follow who is talking and what happened.

Livingston County's guidance includes dialogue, speaker identification and important sounds in its caption checks. Apply that principle to the whole recording, including public comment and presentations. Checking only the opening roll call leaves the rest of the meeting unreviewed.

Record a timestamp and the problem when a passage needs correction. A note tied to the exact moment is easier for the caption editor to act on than a general complaint about accuracy.

How should staff check timing and the public player?

Watch the corrected captions with the recording and check that they follow the speech. Then open the meeting through your community's website as a visitor would. Review the embedded player as well as the video-hosting page if both are offered.

W3C's media-player guidance (opens in a new tab) calls for keyboard support, visible focus and clearly labeled controls, along with support for screen readers and zoom. Ask your website provider to investigate controls that staff cannot reach or operate.

For the publishing check:

1. Start playback and turn on the intended caption track. Confirm the corrected version is the one visitors receive.
2. Move to a middle section and the end. Check that captions continue and remain synchronized after seeking.
3. Use the keyboard to reach playback and caption controls, then move out of the player. Record any place where focus disappears or becomes trapped.
4. Check on a phone and with enlarged text or page zoom. Captions should remain readable without hiding information needed to understand the video.

These playback checks follow the full text review. They are useful acceptance checks, not a complete accessibility audit. The keyboard accessibility guide explains that part of the public experience in more detail.

Will the live captions automatically appear on the recording?

Check the archived video separately, even if captions worked during the meeting. The answer depends on the platform and recording process.

For example, YouTube's documentation (opens in a new tab) says its live automatic captions do not remain on the finished video. It generates new automatic captions for the recording, and those can differ from the live version. It also warns that captions may not be ready immediately after upload.

Include this check in the handoff from whoever runs the stream to whoever maintains the meeting page. Confirm the archive has a caption track, that a reviewer has checked it, and that corrections were published. If another platform hosts the video, have its administrator confirm what happens to captions after the stream ends.

Where should the recording and correction contact go?

Put the recording on the page for that meeting, alongside its agenda and other materials. Label it with the public body's name and meeting date so a resident arriving from search can identify it without opening the video.

Muniway's Agendas & Minutes keeps the agenda, packet, recording and minutes together. The meeting-page guide explains how that record develops as material becomes available. Keep caption preparation and review assigned to the staff member or provider responsible for the video.

Provide a contact for recording access problems. Ask residents reporting an error to identify the meeting and, if possible, the timestamp. When a correction is made, reopen the public recording and verify that the intended caption track changed. If the video must be replaced, check the meeting page's link again.

Keep a short internal record of who reviewed the captions and which version was published. Include timestamps for unresolved issues so the next staff member can locate the passage when a resident calls.