BARFUSS, an independent online magazine from South Tyrol, will launch the region’s first German-language news section written in Easy and Plain Language. The project targets people with learning difficulties, functional illiteracy, dementia, hearing impairments, and migrants with limited German skills, making independent journalism accessible to over 80,000 marginalized individuals.
The project involves developing editorial guidelines, training journalists, adapting articles using AI support, and implementing a text-to-speech function. Content will be reviewed by accessibility experts to ensure high quality and inclusivity.
Funding will be used for editorial workshops, technical development of accessibility features, fine-tuning an AI model for text adaptation, and extensive user testing. With this initiative, BARFUSS aims to promote democratic participation, strengthen media diversity, and build a sustainable model for accessible journalism in South Tyrol.
Goals (expected) of the project
The project aims to create South Tyrol’s first Easy and Plain Language news section in German, making independent journalism accessible to marginalized communities. It addresses over 80,000 people who are currently excluded from complex news due to learning difficulties, functional illiteracy, dementia, hearing impairments, or limited language skills.
By integrating accessible content directly into an established independent media outlet, the project strengthens media pluralism in a small and traditional media market. It promotes democratic participation by ensuring that people with cognitive or language barriers can engage in public discourse.
The project embraces a human rights-based approach, recognizing access to information as a key element of democracy and inclusion. By using AI-assisted adaptation, expert review processes, and full accessibility features like text-to-speech, it ensures that the content is not only simplified but remains high-quality, accurate, and respectful.
In the long term, the project will make diversity and inclusion a permanent part of BARFUSS’ editorial work. It will help raise awareness about language barriers and foster a more equitable media landscape where all people, regardless of their abilities or language skills, can participate equally.
