Membership in the Online News Association connects you with the sharpest minds in digital journalism, those who are rethinking the industry, finding new ways to tell stories with new technology and starting up the news sites of the future.

Members also enjoy a range of benefits, from free and discounted  training and seminars to being an integral part of regional, national and international communities and events.


All members — professional, associate, academic and student — receive full benefits. Here are some of the many reasons to join ONA:

ONLINE JOURNALISM AWARDS AND ANNUAL CONFERENCE

• The only annual awards competition that acknowledges the best and the brightest work in digital news, identifying and publicly honoring models of excellence for the profession.
• An annual, state-of-the-art national conference offering a premier networking forum and a chance to hear from the leading practitioners and bold-faced names in online news and technology. Members get steep discounts on registration fees.

DISCOUNTS ON TRAINING, CONFERENCES, SERVICES AND PUBLICATIONS

ONA members benefit from ONA digital training resources and significant discounts for events and training from other journalism organizations, as well as free and low-cost legal help, including:

• Free Parachute Training, courtesy of a $50,000 grant from the Gannett Foundation, that offers customized start-up and multimedia sessions and workshops in cities hit by media closures and homes to growing entrepreneur communities.
• Free NewsU training webinars from The Poynter Institute, including a series of four in partnership with ONA in 2010, focusing on integrating technology into storytelling. 
• Low-cost or free media legal assistance from our partnership with the Online Media Law Network at Harvard University's Berkman Center. 
• Free access to online training, including full sessions from our annual conferences. Watch this videotaped session from our September, 2008 conference: MSNBC.com Bridge Tracker: Bill Dedman, Investigative Reporter, MSNBC.com; Phil Zepeda, Interactive Producer, MSNBC.com
• $100 professional discount for all Society for News Design's training sessions.
• $150 off registration for the New Communications Forum,sponsored by the Society for New Communications Research.
• Participation in Associated Press Managing Editors' NewsTrain program, a national training program, and database-assisted national reporting projects
• Free issues of Nieman Reports, a quarterly magazine published by the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard.
• 15% off the purchase of ContentNext's report, "Size Doesn't Matter - An Analysis of Online News and Political Sites."
• A 20% discount on the purchase of the newest edition of "Internet Law: A Field Guide.

• An e-mail newsletter with latest news on training and education, job openings and events.
• Announcements about ONA events in your region, training opportunities and the latest conference news.
  
  

• ONA support of a growing number of member-generated online journalism events around the world focused on skills development, technology and networking.

• The filing of amicus briefs in court cases important to digital journalists
• Online news credibility studies
• Participation in Associated Press Managing Editors' National Credibility Roundtables Project to promote on-going communication between the public and the press to build better news practices
• ONA's role as a point of contact for media working on stories on digital news