NFB Newsline for the Blind

Would you like a newspaper with your morning cup of coffee? NFB-NEWSLINE^® added its 200th newspaper in 2004 AND it's still growing. Two Spanish-language newspapers: El Nuevo Herald from Miami and La Opinion from Los Angeles are now available to all subscribers.  The service handles thousands of phone calls each day for individuals across the country who now access daily newspapers and magazines as never before. The toll-free centralized call-in center provides service without delay to any subscriber. This also enables those who cannot read conventional print to have access to all content offered on NFB-NEWSLINE^® when traveling throughout the United States.

Every day, a subscriber can choose that day's, the previous day's, or the previous Sunday's issue of any newspaper in the service. On NFB-NEWSLINE^®, the user can easily choose which newspaper, section, and article to read using a standard touch-tone telephone. The menu provided allows the user to change the speed and voice quality, spell out words, or search for a particular word or subject.

Additional newspapers and magazines will be added, and future upgrades will allow more options, such as new "voices" and newspapers in other languages.

NFB-NEWSLINE^® now offers more choices than ever, including special local channels to distribute announcements of specific interest to the blind.

Astounding Option 5: National and Local Papers

Option five has been re-invented, making it even easier to read any newspaper on NFB-NEWSLINE^®.  Now, after selecting Option 5, callers will be asked to choose the state where their newspaper is published.  Then, they will select from a list of all papers from that state.  There's no more scrolling through our ever-growing list of local and national papers including USA Today, The New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, The Christian Science Monitor, and the Wall Street Journal.

Arts, culture, national, and international news are now available on NFB-NEWSLINE^® through magazines. Just press Option 7. 

Synthetic Speech Used for Menu and Choices

The National Federation of the Blind has designed this revolutionary, totally electronic system to receive digital transmissions from publishers on the morning of publication, reformat the data for conversion to synthetic speech, and upload to the NFB-NEWSLINE^® servers. By just dialing a toll-free number, dozens of newspapers, magazines, and more, are now available over any touch-tone telephone twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.

Eligibility

Anyone who cannot read printed newspapers due to blindness or a physical disability is eligible to receive NFB-NEWSLINE^®.  Register by calling your state's Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, or by calling the National Federation of the Blind at 1 (866) 504-7300 to request an application.  After your registration is processed, you'll receive a letter containing your activation code and instructions for how to begin reading the newspaper with NFB-NEWSLINE^®.

Who can benefit?

How to Use NFB Newsline

With only a touch-tone telephone, any subscriber can access the NFB-NEWSLINE^®. No computer is needed and no special training. After entering an ID number and security code, the system prompts new callers to make their selections. Readers press 1 for NFB-NEWSLINE^® News, 2 for the Local Channel, or 3 for Your State's Newspapers, 5 for All Newspapers, 6 for Former Location (which picks up reading where you left off), or 7 for Magazines.

In newspaper options, readers can choose from today's paper, yesterday's paper, and the Sunday paper (if one is published). Once in the paper, readers choose the section of the newspaper they wish to read: sports, news, business section, and more. Pressing a single key on the telephone keypad will quickly move readers from one article to the next, skip ahead in the article, return to a previous article, change the speaking speed, change the reading voice, or spell out words. The keystrokes are few and easy to remember. (Your state sponsor or Newsline Embassador is available to answer any questions.)

Pressing 2 will access the Local Information Channel with important information about other services and items of interest to blind individuals in that community. Information about blindness is not always easy for the newly blinded person to find, let alone use to advantage. For some readers, this may be one of the more important components of NFB-NEWSLINE^®.

Now the Blind Have Access to Newspaper Information

Lifetime learning, including detailed awareness of current events, is part of what makes a good citizen, a successful employee or employer, and a valuable participant in community life. Without ready access to information, none of us can reach his or her full potential. Until 1995, the nation's blind did not have the promise of ready access to a fundamental source of such information--the daily newspaper. But now the National Federation of the Blind has created NFB-NEWSLINE^®.

NFB-NEWSLINE^® is at last making it possible for blind individuals to gain access to the information in newspapers at the same time as their sighted colleagues, friends, and family members. Blind professionals, for example, can now converse on relevant topics, no longer being underinformed about information critical to their professions or left out at social functions when the latest editorial is discussed. Beyond this, a wealth of other information primarily found in newspapers is now also available to the blind on an equal footing, making possible their participation in the life of the community on the basis of equality.

The Internet provides sighted individuals access to thousands of newspapers and magazines with just a quick search. NFB-NEWSLINE^® is the only system that will bring the blind so much to choose from, at the time when the subscriber wishes to read. More and more papers are beginning to understand that blind and visually disabled individuals, just as the sighted, need to have access to their local papers. The numbers of participating papers are steadily growing. If you wish to have your local paper on NFB-NEWSLINE^®, or are connected with a newspaper which would like to provide the text of its paper to those who can not read print, contact the National Federation of the Blind at nfbnewsline@nfb.org.

RELATED LINKS

NFB-NEWSLINE Application (PDF Format) and
(Word Document)

Please print, fill out, and mail to address listed.

The Times Union of Albany is NFB-NEWSLINE'S 200th Newspaper

NFB NEWSLINE AND BOOKSHARE.ORG

Members of Bookshare.org can access newspapers available from NFB Newsline by loging in to the service with their user information and by downloading the daily newspapers for off-line reading. For further information about becoming a member of this one-of-a-kind service visit:

http://www.bookshare.org

TENNESSEE NEWSPAPERS AVAILABLE ON NFB NEWSLINE

The following Tennessee Newspapers listed by city can be accessed via NFB Newsline:

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

In Tennessee contact Joe Shaw, the NFB Newsline Embassador for the National Federation of the Blind of Tennessee. Joe is an enthusiastic user of NFB Newsline and is willing to discuss the use of this service with anyone wishing to access newspapers and other material in Tennessee, and around the country and can arrange for a demonstration of this unique resource for the blind. He can be reached at:

Phone: (615) 868-1113

E-mail: jrs3147@comcast.net

Page Last modified: