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Stacy Kess, dissident editor

@stacykess.bsky.social

5.7K followers 2.3K following 4.9K posts

Editor of @equalaccesspublicmedia.org. Woman on a mission to make news accessible. #Journalist with 25-plus yrs experience and handful of awards. Former #RN. View from #Boston. Zero filter. Cuss too much. https://equalaccesspublicmedia.org

equalaccesspublicmedia.org

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Stacy Kess, dissident editor @stacykess.bsky.social · 12d

I think this is a challenge @equalaccesspublicmedia.org has faced a lot.

What are we? Are we affiliated with NPR and PBS, or before it started shutting down, CPB? Did we get government funding from the public media funds for CPB?

The answer to all that is no.

equalaccesspublicmedia.org

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Anemone @zeenemywithin.bsky.social · 12d

Why donate here when every Public Media Affiliate station takes donations?

IMO people should donate to their local station

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Stacy Kess, dissident editor @stacykess.bsky.social · 27m

I swear I did not plan that our Style and Accessibility Guide colors would work so well with the colors of a certain company who is famous for pumpkin spice lattes.

It just worked out that way.

Equal Access Public Media (EAPM) @equalaccesspublicmedia.org · 34m

The average pumpkin spice latte costs $6.25.

But you can become a Patron of the EAPM Style and Accessibility Guide and The Word for just $2.99 a month.

And we're good all year.

https://f.mtr.cool/iuvjtruppi

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Stacy Kess, dissident editor @stacykess.bsky.social · 32m

Me too! I have a list of things I'd fund/give endowments to if I won the Powerball or Megamillions. Once we buy a small flat here, we'd have plenty left over to give to all the orgs that need it!

Stacy Kess, dissident editor @stacykess.bsky.social · 1h

Yes, yes, I'm only kidding. My intern? She's amazing. I cannot wait to teach her all the things. She's already done a local public radio internship, and she's top of her class. And somehow she came my way! Because we're the only journalism accessibility org!

Stacy Kess, dissident editor @stacykess.bsky.social · 1h

Was I though?

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Stacy Kess, dissident editor @stacykess.bsky.social · 1h

Hmmmmm... do you happen to have a spare million dollars lying around to fund EAPM? Or have have found the key to getting my self-cloning experiment to work yet?

Either of those would be excellent...

...she says rubbing her hands together like Mr. Burns...

mr. simpson from the simpsons is smiling and making a funny face

Alt: Mr. Burns from The Simpson rubbing his hands together nefariously

media.tenor.com

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Stacy Kess, dissident editor @stacykess.bsky.social · 3h

(I just told this poor college student that she's going to come out the other end of the internship as a middle-aged woman having a late mid-life crisis with two dogs and a cat and an anxiety problem...!)

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Stacy Kess, dissident editor @stacykess.bsky.social · 3h

Yes ma'am! I'm working on it.

I'd been waiting until it was real to say anything, but I also got an intern (who is here to learn all about running a news accessibility nonprofit) on-boarding, so I now officially have a mini-me. And I plan to teach her all the things. Or at least the good things.

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Stacy Kess, dissident editor @stacykess.bsky.social · 6h

So, while the end result is, for my own sake, I'm going to have to cut back on my hours — at least to a health 40 or 45 hours a week ... maybe 50 — this whole thing is really my mother's fault. And I'm not giving up on EAPM yet.

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Stacy Kess, dissident editor @stacykess.bsky.social · 6h

But she also was active in politics and social justice. And that brought me into those movements young. Just giving a damn meant we could change the world!

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Stacy Kess, dissident editor @stacykess.bsky.social · 6h

Like any good GenXer, we decided it's my mother's fault. See, my mom showed me early on that a little hard work and a lot of idealism could change a lot. She was a single mom with a meager salary.

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Stacy Kess, dissident editor @stacykess.bsky.social · 6h

I said to my husband last night, why? Why didn't I just start small? Like a newsletter or something?

And he said, because you're not built like that.

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Stacy Kess, dissident editor @stacykess.bsky.social · 6h

(And to be frank, most news websites aren't even AA compliant.) So I wrote this plan. Our org would show the way. Language, digital, HR (personnel, physical space, working conditions). We'd build ways to train the industry. We'd also build our own news outlets to lead.

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Stacy Kess, dissident editor @stacykess.bsky.social · 6h

We invented, we created, we saw possibilities where others didn't. We saw solutions to problems people didn't even know existed.

So when I saw the accessibility problems beyond just "fix up your website to squeak by AA compliance" in news, I wanted to do something.

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Stacy Kess, dissident editor @stacykess.bsky.social · 6h

When I started @equalaccesspublicmedia.org, I put all my GenXness into it.

Sure my generation makes for great jokes, but we're more than cynics. We, at one time, thought almost anything was possible. We got the name "slacker," but we were really dreaming.

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Stacy Kess, dissident editor @stacykess.bsky.social · 6h

I had a good meltdown last night. I'm exhausted, and overworked. And I told my husband that I just can't keep going at this pace. And I yelled, and I cried.

And then, I talked it out.

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Stacy Kess, dissident editor @stacykess.bsky.social · 17h

I hear you. But there's one of me. I work 80 hours a week. I missed this one. We have a budget of $900 left. Major media organizations with multi-million dollar budgets with many people also miss typos. I am very sorry that I missed this error in my sleep-deprived state. I'm doing the best I can.

Reposted by Stacy Kess, dissident editor

Equal Access Public Media (EAPM) @equalaccesspublicmedia.org · 19h

The Word is back today to discuss accessibility as the key to rebuilding trust in news. Our reporter talks to @kattenbarge.bsky.social and @patrickmgarvin.bsky.social to learn more.

Journalism’s overlooked key to public trust - EAPM Style and Accessibility Guide

Accessibility rebuilds broken bonds with news audiences while bringing new engagement

eapmstyleguide.org

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Stacy Kess, dissident editor @stacykess.bsky.social · 23h

More reasons to donate:
Stacy needs her first paycheck in two years/a vacation/not to work 80 hours a week...

Stacy Kess, dissident editor @stacykess.bsky.social · 23h

I think you're right.

Speaks to how tired I was when I edited this last night.

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Stacy Kess, dissident editor @stacykess.bsky.social · 1d

But journalism needs funding, and that's why we ask people to pitch in. Because news costs money.

It costs money to do. It costs money for journalists to live. I mean, feed a journalist today.

Stacy Kess, dissident editor @stacykess.bsky.social · 1d

For my org, @equalaccesspublicmedia.org , we go with a public media model (no paywalls, no ads). It means we need donations (10% of revenue).

(And as I've said before, I have taken $0 in pay in two years. Which I cannot sustain forever.)

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Stacy Kess, dissident editor @stacykess.bsky.social · 1d

Journalist work really hard to do their jobs. They interview. They research.

So for an indie journo like @kattenbarge.bsky.social to run her own pub, she's got to make a living through a paywall.

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Stacy Kess, dissident editor @stacykess.bsky.social · 1d

This goes for both for-profit and non-profit journalism.

Either you pay for the access by subscribing/access beyond the paywall, or you donate so that there is no paywall. Those are basically the two models as of right now.

Either way, journalism needs funds.

Kat Tenbarge @kattenbarge.bsky.social · 1d

ALSO, responding to a writer/journalist and indicating that you’d like to read their work but you’re not willing to pay for it is OFFENSIVE AND RUDE!

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Stacy Kess, dissident editor @stacykess.bsky.social · 1d

A few notes about this article:
1. Done by a cub reporter. And as his editor, I think it turned out great.
2. If ever there was an article that exemplified The Word, this is it.
3. Great sources.

Equal Access Public Media (EAPM) @equalaccesspublicmedia.org · 1d

Today in The Word: Is accessibility the key to rebuilding trust in news? Our reporter talks to @patrickmgarvin.bsky.social of @a11yawareness.bsky.social and @kattenbarge.bsky.social of @spitfirenews.com.

Journalism’s overlooked key to public trust - EAPM Style and Accessibility Guide

Accessibility rebuilds broken bonds with news audiences while bringing new engagement

eapmstyleguide.org

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Reposted by Stacy Kess, dissident editor

Patrick Garvin @patrickmgarvin.bsky.social · 1d

I was grateful to get to talk about one of my biggest passions: the intersection of journalism and accessibility! Thanks, @equalaccesspublicmedia.org! And shout-out to @trustingnews.bsky.social, who is is mentioned in this!

#PartyLikeAJournalist #A11y #Accessibility

Equal Access Public Media (EAPM) @equalaccesspublicmedia.org · 1d

Journalism’s overlooked key to public trust - EAPM Style and Accessibility Guide

Accessibility rebuilds broken bonds with news audiences while bringing new engagement

eapmstyleguide.org

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