ATLANTA — Four major foundations today launched a $1 million challenge encouraging universities to create teams that will experiment with new ways of providing news and information. The two-year micro-grant contest will be run by the Online News Association (ONA), the world’s largest membership group of digital journalists.

The competitive Challenge Fund for Innovation in Journalism Education, announced today at ONA’s 2013 conference, is the brainchild of a collaborative that includes the Excellence and Ethics in Journalism Foundation, the Robert R. McCormick Foundation, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Democracy Fund.

The fund will support “live news experiments” that further the development of teaching hospital models in journalism education, in which students create innovative projects with professionals, professors and researchers.

The fund will produce from 15 to 25 projects during the next two years with micro-grants of as much as $35,000 each. The four founding funders have committed $850,000 to launch the project, and additional funders are being sought to join next year, to bring the total to at least $1 million.

Contest rules and application forms will be unveiled in November for projects to be completed either in the summer of 2014 or in the 2014-2015 academic year.

Members and friends,

As you probably have heard, last week the Senate Judiciary Committee passed S. 987, the Free Flow of Information Act (FFIA), with the support of the Online News Association and a coalition of media organizations. FFIA would create a statutory privilege protecting journalists against being compelled to identify confidential sources — a privilege that doesn’t exist under current federal law. Although many heralded the vote as promising new “shield law” protection to journalists, skeptics have expressed a variety of concerns, from the federal government trying to determine who is a journalist, to whether people working in new media would be covered.

We’d like to address these concerns and explain what ONA has been doing to ensure that FFIA will protect journalists, broadly defined, now and for generations to come.

We believe FFIA is a good, if imperfect, piece of legislation that will serve journalists and journalism well. Because the Supreme Court has never interpreted the First Amendment to protect journalists from being compelled to identify confidential sources, the federal government has at times demanded such information. Recent examples of governmental intrusion include the sweeping subpoena of AP phone records, a search warrant for Fox News reporter James Rosen’s phone records, and New York Times reporter James Risen being compelled to testify in a case involving the leak of classified information by a CIA agent. ONA has supported industry efforts to challenge these governmental intrusions, but an effective shield law would prevent governmental overreaching before it occurs. While the Department of Justice recently modified its subpoena guidelines after consulting with a coalition of media organizations including ONA, they remain department guidelines and do not require independent judicial oversight.

This is one in a series of posts offering quick internship advice by students wrapping up their summer programs. Read the whole series here.

Everyone knows that internships are scary and exciting. Well, internships in a foreign country are exponentially scarier and more exciting. There is so much more to consider. However, you will learn so much more in the end.

This is one in a series of posts offering quick internship advice by students wrapping up their summer programs. Read the whole series here.

Now that you’ve gotten past your first-week internship jitters, you can finally start getting down to business and tapping into the summer’s potential. Whether that lies in a post-internship talent development program with your company, an entry-level job offer or simply a glowing recommendation, you can’t afford to waste this summer. Here are a few tips for being the best intern ever.

This is one in a series of posts offering quick internship advice by students wrapping up their summer programs. Read the whole series here.

Student publications are fantastic places to learn the basics of reporting, editing and publishing, but an internship at a professional news organization is a whole different ballgame.

While some students will slide easily into their new roles, others likely will go through a bit of culture shock. The transition from working with your peers in an educational environment to sitting next to people you’ve idolized for years in a professional newsroom can be rough.

This is one in a series of posts offering quick internship advice by students wrapping up their summer programs. Read the whole series here.

Pitchin’ isn’t an easy game. And if you are an intimidated intern, you may feel bound for failure.

Here are some tips. Even if you get just one win out of this advice, well, you’re welcome.

This is one in a series of posts offering quick internship advice by students wrapping up their summer programs. Read the whole series here.

Even during an internship, there’s more free time in the summer to rediscover hobbies neglected during the daily collegiate grind.

Netflix accounts will be reactivated and breakfast will be eaten again. But after watching every episode of “The West Wing,” it’s probably time to be productive and start a side project.

This is one in a series of posts offering quick internship advice by students wrapping up their summer programs. Read the whole series here.

Social media can make or break an internship. If the person reviewing intern candidates scans your profiles and finds embarrassing Facebook photos or profanity-laden tweets, you’re probably not going to hear back. Two strikes if you tweet once a month.

On the other hand, using social media skillfully is an easy way to grab the attention of people in the newsroom who otherwise might not notice you. And as an intern, the bottom of the food chain, you want all the positive attention you can get.

Here are four ways to ensure you stand out on social media during your internship.

This is one in a series of posts offering quick internship advice by students wrapping up their summer programs. Read the whole series here.

My internship with The Seattle Times has been a fun, interesting learning experience. Just like any internship should be.

I’m interning on the business and metro desks at the Times this summer, with my first few weeks spent with the business folks. I’ve always lived by the idea of jumping right into opportunities as I see them, but doing so in an informed manner.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Associated Press and Google today announced the second recipients of a national scholarship program targeted at college students whose innovative projects exemplify the new journalist in the digital media age. The Online News Association, the world’s largest membership organization of digital journalists, administers the program.

The AP-Google Journalism and Technology Scholarship provides $20,000 scholarships for the 2013-14 academic year to six promising undergraduate or graduate students pursuing or planning to pursue degrees at the intersection of journalism, computer science and new media. A key goal is to promote geographic, gender and ethnic diversity and identify and support creative new talent and work in the field.