Aired Showcase 2021 magazine

“Brought together by Good Things
Foundation, the Online Centres Network
is made up of over 5,000 grassroots
organisations, all working to tackle
digital and social exclusion by providing
people with the skills and confidence
they need to access digital technology.”
The Responsibility of Publishers and
Public Service Broadcasters
Is it the responsibility of news
corporations and publishers to cater to
all demographics? The BBC is a public
service broadcaster, which the public
pays for through TV Licences. According
to Ofcom,
“Public service broadcasting (PSB) has
a long and proud tradition in the UK,
delivering impartial and trusted news,
UK-originated programmes and
distinctive content.”
The entirety of the BBC falls under this
umbrella, whereas Channel 3, Channel
4 and Channel 5 services only reach
PSB status through their main channels.
As a public service, it would be fair to
assume that the content and the service
they provide is accessible by all. However,
accessibility functions, such as larger
text and a read-aloud function, prove a
challenge to locate.
The Age UK website features a
read-aloud function at the top of each
article, allowing users to hear the text if
they experience trouble reading. Users
can pause, rewind and change the
tempo and volume.
As Age UK is a registered charity that
supports the elderly, their website will
inevitably be far more accessible to
the older generation than most other
websites.
Assuming news websites are also used
by the elderly and are a ‘public service’,
why are they not as accessible?
The ITV News website does not have
any accessibility functions available on
the landing page. Channel 4 News’
landing page does, but the word
‘accessibility’ appears in an almost
indecipherable text at the very bottom
of the webpage. How are those that
require accessibility functions going to
be able to locate it?
Once users follow the hyperlinked text,
the following statement appears:
“Channel 4 is committed to accessibility
and making our content accessible to
the widest possible audience,
regardless of disability, capability or
technology.” However, users cannot
change the size of the text on their news
website, and there is no read-aloud
function.
Unlike the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 have
shareholders to please and profits to
make. BBC channels do not feature any
external advertisements,
whereas companies could be paying up
to £62,410 (Correct as of Nov 2020) for
a single thirty-second commercial slot
on ITV. The same is true for other news
corporations, such as Sky News. Turning
a profit is more of a priority than catering
their content to all demographics.
Accessibility should be paramount to
PSBs, as the public pay for their
service. It is rather unfair that the older
generation pumped money into these
PSBs over their lifetime and now cannot
access all of their content. Additionally, a
number of over 75s no longer receive a
free TV Licence, meaning they are
paying when perhaps they did not
before. Now that the most up-to-date
news is online, the older generation