The BBC have ordered staff to read out all web addresses and phone numbers, instead of directing viewers to read the screen, in order to cater for blind people.
A BBC spokeswoman said: “We are here to serve all our audiences.
‘A significant number of blind people use TV news so it makes sense when we give out a phone number or email address for us to spell it out to ensure everyone can access the information equally.”
Leen Petre from the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) said: “It is very important BBC news readers are reading out this information so that the two million blind and partially sighted people in the UK, who want to follow news stories, have equal access to TV.
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‘We fully support the BBC news approach that telephone numbers and addresses should be read out, and we would like to see this implemented across all channels and programmes.”
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