Today we joined with the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and 50 other media organizations in issuing a letter to the Department of Justice (DOJ) regarding its subpoenaing of telephone records belonging to The Associated Press.

The DOJ’s actions — gathering two months of records for more than 20 telephone lines, both from major AP bureaus and the home and cell phones of individual AP journalists — is a startling and potentially dangerous overreach of its powers, powers that are strictly limited under the DOJ’s own guidelines for issuing subpoenas to the news media for testimony and evidence.

The range of media organizations that have signed on to the letter and the speed with which we have reacted gives some sense of how strongly ONA — and the journalism community at large — feels about the DOJ’s intrusion and its potential impact on our work in the service of the public. As outlined in the letter, we have requested a swift response from the DOJ on a variety of related issues, and we’ll keep you updated.

Jim Brady, President
Josh Hatch, Chair, Legal Affairs Committee

Photo by Randy Stewart

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Online News Association, the world’s largest membership organization of digital journalists, announces that Nate Silver, best-selling author and expert data forecaster at FiveThirtyEight.com, will keynote at its 2013 conference in Atlanta.

Silver will be featured at the Online News Association Conference and Awards Banquet Friday, Oct. 18, in a conversation exploring data journalism.

With three full days of workshops, discussions, creative presentations and more expected at ONA13, we want to collect as many ideas as possible and know more about what you’d like to see and talk about when you come to Atlanta this October.

To give you more time to weigh in on the conference design, we’ve extended the deadline for the ONA13 Suggestion Box for one full week! You now have until May 8 at 11:59 p.m. E.T. to tell us what you can teach digital journalists.

Help us disrupt newsrooms around the world and train a modern workforce of journalists. You can check out all the great ideas
submitted so far at the ONA13 Suggestion Box.

We are especially interested in ideas aimed at beginners and intermediate level training.

Have an idea for the conference, but don’t want to present? We want to hear that, too. Submit today!

Don’t forget, registration for ONA13 is now open. Register now and get the discounted early-bird rate.

Be an early bird and save

Registration is officially open for the 2013 Online News Association Conference & Awards Banquet, Oct. 17-19, in Atlanta. Pro tip: The earlier you register, the lower your fee.

New this year: One price gets you into any and all conference sessions, the Midway, exhibits and the Job Fair! Pick and choose from our extended (three-day) program.

Starting today, members and non-members will have two months to sign up for the conference at the early-bird rate. Then the cost goes up incrementally, so avoid the last-minute crunch. As past attendees know, ONA13 passes sell out quickly, so plan to get yours early.

ONA13 General Pass

Registering as a group (10 or more, for a $50 per ticket discount)? Contact support@journalists.org for assistance.

This is one of a series of blog posts from the second ONA class of MJ Bear Fellows, three journalists under 30 who are beginning to make their voices heard and expand the boundaries of digital news. Fellow Hagit Bachrach is a video producer at the Council on Foreign Relations.

As part of my MJ Bear Fellowship, I had the great fortune of being mentored by Paul Cheung, Global Interactives Editor at the Associated Press. A few months back, Paul invited me to shadow him for the day and check out the great work he and his team are doing up close.

You’ve probably come across AP’s data-driven graphics, 3-D animations, photos and videos on any one of its members’ websites, possibly without realizing that AP is behind any of them. I thought I’d share some of my observations and takeaways for my peek behind the AP curtain: