WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

E-mail List Archives

Re: LSAC Inaccessible Web Lawsuit

for

From: Zdenek, Sean
Date: Feb 22, 2009 10:25AM

Thanks, Cynthia, for the info on NFB v. LSAC.

I went searching yesterday for more information about this complaint – I read everything I could find, including the complaint -- and found that the NFB’s press release has already been reprinted verbatim on a number of general news sites, including Yahoo!, CNBC, AOL, and Forbes. On only two law sites was I able to find any response from the LSAC. I document my search for info and my analysis of what I found in this blog entry: http://seanzdenek.com/?p=52

Not surprisingly, the LSAC has a different story to tell, but to date their story is not being disseminated on general news sites. The NFB’s press release has dominated the rhetorical landscape. What you wouldn’t know from reading the press release or the news sites (where the press release has been disseminated) is that the LSAC claims to have made significant progress on revising its website and seems much more willing than the press release implies to work with the NFB.

As a result, I’m interested in 1) the responsibility of news organizations to present the dispute in a more balanced way, and 2) the extent to which a press release can frame a story, set the terms of discussion, be disseminated as objective news, and offer disputed items as facts.

I'm both sympathetic to the NFB's complaint and, because my background is in rhetoric, interested in the rhetorical dimensions of it all.

Sean

---------------------------
Sean Zdenek, PhD
Assistant Professor
Technical Communication & Rhetoric
Department of English
Texas Tech University
806.742.2500 x284
Office: 472 English Building
<EMAIL REMOVED>

http://cms.english.ttu.edu/zdenek