OAJ is making news and newsrooms more accessible

E. Simone Jenerson is chief of operations for the Organization for Accessible Journalism. (Photo courtesy of E. Simone Jenerson)

I hope that this name allows me to explain who we are and what we’d like to do. As we are dreaming and scheming and thinking amongst ourselves, a name is important in that it doesn't limit the bountiful imagination and creativity that come out of such places. So, I’m really happy that this name makes sense, and does that very hard work of keeping us inbound, but not so much so that we're stuck.”

Simone Jenerson

Equal Access Public Media’s rebrand to the Organization for Accessible Journalism — to be formalized later this summer — marks a new chapter for a relatively new media nonprofit centered around accessibility. But the shift toward a (fittingly) more accessible name on August 1st still demands a sentimental send-off according to founder Stacy Kess.

“It was our first name, Equal Access Public Media. It was something the advisory team came up with,” said Kess. “It really meant a lot to us; it was our baby. Sometimes you mature and you call yourself a nickname when you’re young, like Jimmy or Cindy — now you’re Cynthia or James. This is us growing up. But it’s in our hearts.”

Kess comes to the nonprofit’s mission with personal-experience perspective.

A vehicle hit Kess head-on in 2017. Prior to the accident, she largely lived her lifelong newsroom dreams. Kess recounted interviewing her mom with a boombox as a child back in the 1980s and starting her first newspaper in the sixth grade. She eventually majored in journalism and biology, with intention to cover the health beat — a hope she largely fulfilled during her career.

Following her recovery and during a frustrating job search, Kess started thinking about the accessibility tools she employed after the crash. She sustained aphasia, a disorder that affects communication, including speech. She benefitted from closed captions and a screen reader.

Accessibility kept coming back to her as the journalism industry — plagued with new uncertainty and long-standing ableism — overlooked her. So, Kess brought together journalists who lived with disabilities or chronic illnesses, who had recovered from addiction or alcoholism, were neurodivergent, or spent time as caregivers. And she pitched them her idea for what ultimately became Equal Access Public Media.

“I always thought I was going to work in editing or health and science journalism,” said Kess. “Just never know your career trajectory, I guess. One day, you get hit head on by a vehicle, and you spend time recovering. And you come out of it, and you go, what am I doing with my life? And you start a nonprofit that’s dedicated to accessibility in journalism. I knew nothing about running a nonprofit when I started this, and here I am.”

Accessing the nonprofit world

Stacy Kess is the founder of Equal Access Public Media — soon to be rebranded as the Organization for Accessible Journalism. (Photo courtesy of Stacy Kess)

Kess spent a summer researching how to start a nonprofit and enlisted help from Lawyers for Reporters, a pro bono legal service for journalism organizations offered by the New York Bar Association’s Vance Center. Then, the advisory committee decided on the initial Equal Access Public Media name. They filed for incorporation in November 2023. The organization landed a fiscal sponsor in 2024, which legally greenlit fundraising efforts.

Fatefully, Kess crossed paths with now Chief of Operations E. Simone Jenerson while bantering on a LinkedIn post’s comment section. Their humor blossomed into a true partnership. Jenerson, who worked in the software world, handles the business side.

“We were commenting under somebody else’s post,” said Jenerson. “With our goofball humor, we just vibed on the subsequent replies. … We talked a little bit. I got to learn more about EAPM and what [Kess] was doing. My forte in business in general is operationalizing things that just are literally ideas.”

For now, the nonprofit remains in a pre-seed phase and largely raises money through grants, donations and services like alt-text trainings for newsrooms. But news organizations can also grow audiences through accessibility, which studies show increases search engine optimization visibility. Beyond workshops, Equal Access Public Media also delivers its magazine “The Word” and provides a style guide. In the fall, the team is planning a survey.

Shounteé Turner serves on the Organization for Accessible Journalism’s board and manages grant writing for the nonprofit. (Photo courtesy of Shounteé Turner)

Board member Shounteé Turner currently handles grant-writing for the nonprofit and remains optimistic despite funding challenges stemming from the current federal administration.

“There are a lot of organizations competing for the funding that is available,” said Turner. “And our struggle specifically, related to our organization, is sometimes people didn’t understand what category to put our organization in. … We’ve been looking into social impact funding. We’ve been looking into funding that focuses on communities with different disabilities, and we’ve been also looking [into] organizations that focus on serving news nonprofits. The future is bright.”

So, rebranding into the Organization for Accessible Journalism later this summer will make Jenerson and Turner’s lives easier as the new name provides more clarity for potential funders.

“I hope that this name allows me to explain who we are and what we’d like to do,” said Jenerson. “As we are dreaming and scheming and thinking amongst ourselves, a name is important in that it doesn't limit the bountiful imagination and creativity that come out of such places. So, I’m really happy that this name makes sense, and does that very hard work of keeping us inbound, but not so much so that we're stuck.”

The nonprofit Equal Access Public Media has a new name. As of August 1st, it will be known as the Organization for Accessible Journalism.

The mission is concise yet ambitious. The homepage reads: “News is a public good. But it’s not reaching everyone. … We are working to make news more accessible to people who have trouble accessing news because of disabilities, use of alternative communications, different ways of accessing the internet, or low literacy levels — because news remains largely inaccessible to its audience, especially as news moves to mostly digital platforms.

“We also work to open the journalism industry to reporters who find themselves left out because of disability, chronic illness, injuries or illness as a result from serving in the military, or those who serve as caregivers.”

An on-ramp to accessibility

To be clear, Equal Access Public Media is not an affinity group or professional organization like the Disabled Journalists Association or Society for Disabled Journalists. The mission certainly overlaps with inclusivity and disability rights. But Equal Access Public Media solely focuses on accessibility, both for journalists and their audiences. “We’re here to build the ramps and make sure that the ramps work,” said Kess.

The proverbial ramps can be anything from literal ramps and elevators to alt-text and writing in plain language. Accessibility can also look like simple cubicles, which provide sound-barriers to reduce sensory overload caused by open-floor workspaces. Or it can be work-from-home and flexible hours, so caretakers, who are overwhelmingly women, can better balance their jobs and loved ones.

And do not conflate accessibility with accommodation, which situationally focuses on individual adjustments rather than universal design. The “curb cut effect” defines how disability-friendly policies benefit everyone — in a literal sense, curb cuts on sidewalks not only assist people in wheelchairs or with walkers but also those pushing strollers or dragging rolling baggage.

“Often we think about accessibility in terms of accommodating for people who live with various disabilities,” said Data Journalist Emilia Ruzicka. “Something that is more accessible for someone with a disability in general is going to be more accessible for pretty much everyone. Adding that plain language explanation of what your method was or what your data visualization says is going to make it easier for pretty much everyone.”

Ruzicka recently applied to join the organization’s board and led workshops with Kess, including at conferences. They often teach how to make data visualization accessible and write in plain language. Kess said Ruzicka is “a great friend to the org.”

While there is no official membership to Equal Access Public Media, the organization boasts a tight-knit group of official and unofficial affiliates. USA TODAY Investigative Reporter Jayme Fraser found other journalists living with disabilities through serving on the advisory council. She recalled rarely talking about her own identity, until she came across Equal Access Public Media. Honoring Mark Boatman, a late journalist from Fraser’s graduating class who was diagnosed with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, played a key role in her participation.

“He typed his stories with a sensor on his nose, because he was paralyzed from the neck down,” said Fraser. “But he did outstanding reporting for the student newspaper on a variety of issues, and it really was my first time seeing accommodations at play in a workplace. I realized that it wasn’t that hard to include him. … He was very solutions-oriented and knew how to navigate the world on his own, and people just had to be curious and give him the opportunity.

“When I saw this org being created. I thought, I wish Mark was still around. He’s not, but I am. So, let’s do this.”

Tandy Lau is an award-winning journalist currently based in Jersey City. He currently works as a staff reporter covering public safety for the New York Amsterdam News in Harlem. He can be contacted at tandylau1995@gmail.com.