Perceivable
Semantic HTML, alt text on editorial images, sufficient colour contrast, and readable typography across breakpoints.
Inclusion
Accessibility for every reader
Global South Watch, published by Noya Industries, is committed to making independent journalism from the Global South available to as many people as possible — including readers who use assistive technologies.
Target: WCAG 2.1 Level AA (ongoing conformance work)
Our approach
Accessibility is part of editorial inclusion: if our reporting is meant to reach communities across the Global South, our website must be usable by people with disabilities, slow connections, and diverse devices. We follow the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 as our reference standard and review critical user journeys after each major redesign.
Operable
Keyboard navigation on main flows, visible focus states, skip-friendly structure, and touch targets sized for mobile.
Understandable
Clear headings, descriptive links, consistent navigation, and plain-language error messages on forms.
Robust
Standards-based markup, ARIA only where needed, and compatibility testing with common assistive technologies.
What we implement
- Landmarks and heading hierarchy on article and section pages
- Alternative text on hero and card images where editorially relevant
- Form labels associated with inputs (login, newsletter, contact, donate)
- Reduced-motion respect via prefers-reduced-motion in animations
- Responsive layout without horizontal scrolling on standard viewports
- High-contrast brand palette aligned with WCAG 2.1 AA targets
Known limitations
- Some third-party embeds (social widgets, external video players) may not meet the same standards as our core pages.
- Older PDF documents linked from archives may not be fully tagged for screen readers.
- Live ticker and auto-rotating hero elements are paused when reduced motion is requested, but manual control is still being expanded.
We publish an internal accessibility review at least once per year and prioritise fixes that block access to news content.
Tested with
- NVDA and JAWS on Windows
- VoiceOver on macOS and iOS
- TalkBack on Android
- Keyboard-only navigation (Tab, Shift+Tab, Enter, Escape)
Report a barrier
If you cannot access content or a feature on Global South Watch, please tell us so we can fix it. Include the page URL, what you were trying to do, and the technology you use (screen reader, browser, device).