Is there a case for News as accessible technology?

One of the open questions on the Web at the moment is how much effort
should be put into updating URI schemes including the news: scheme
that relate to protocols other than HTTP.

<quote cite=
"http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/uri/2004Aug/0057.html">
- We need to decide whether I should update the non-file: drafts to
reflect current reality or simply to use the text from 1738.
</quote>

At least one blind friend responded to a query about accessible
groupware that "if they would just implement a News server everything
would be fine." That's one user with one installed base of skills and
tools.

However, there is the chance that there is a current body of usage
that we should be surfacing in this discussion that I don't know
about.

What do people know about the current level of use of [Usenet] News by

- people with disabilities
- people with narrowband connections
- people in the third world

??

One of the most-requested features of the web interface to the W3C
email list archives is "wouldn't you just mail me a copy of this
post, please?" Similarly, there could be a usability advantage to
dealing with discussions that arise in News through a Newsreader
interface and not a screen-reader-layered-over-web transcription of
the News interface.

The distinction here is that one could send people to a news article
through DejaNews or via a news: URL that sends an NNTP request
and processes the reply in a Newsreader rather than an HTML player.

Does the difference merit investment in the maintenance of the news:
URI specification (and its near twin nntp:)?  Or is this an historic
artifact not needed today?

Al