ONA Weekly #279

By on October 9, 2019

Motherhood in the newsroom

During ONA19, ONA on Air podcast producer Stephanie Serrano caught up with Katherine Goldstein, who led the session Motherhood: Living It in Newsrooms, Covering It in the Word. “Anti-mom bias is the belief that because someone is a mother, they’re less capable in their professional lives,” explained Katherine. Listen to the episode for their conversation on improvements newsrooms could be making to accommodate working mothers, as well as the full-length audio recording of the session. 

Why apply for WLA?

We’ve repeatedly heard from Women’s Leadership Accelerator participants that the experience was transformational. “I learned how to be a better leader, how to empower those around me to take ownership of their roles, how to set the tone of working relationships, how to prioritize and how to better advocate for myself and my team,” said Amy King. Applications for the 2020 program are due Oct. 31, see what alumnae had to say about the experience.

ICYMI: Board election results

Last week, we announced the results of the 2020-21 ONA Board of Directors election. We’re happy to welcome Anita Li to the board as a new director, and congratulate Charo Henríquez, Shazna Nessa, Versha Sharma and David Smydra on their re-elections. Terms are for two years and begin Jan. 1, 2020.

Make your website more accessible 

Having an accessible website is vital to allow your content to be seen and engaged with by people of all abilities. Whatever your technical acumen, there are adjustments you can make to improve your audience’s experience — some with little or no coding. Join ONA19 sponsor Alley online on Thursday, Oct. 24 for a free training to learn easy ways to make your website more accessible.

From the archives: Web accessibility 

We are sharing resources and stories from the ONA archives throughout 2019, as we celebrate 20 years of inspiring innovation and excellence in digital journalism.

Dean Betz and Aditi Bhandari led a conversation at ONA17 on how to make accessibility improvements to your website. “Accessible design starts with seeing human diversity as a resource for better designs,” they told the audience. Explore resources from their session ahead of the Oct. 24 training with Alley and come with questions specific to your newsroom.

Community stories

How has your ONA experience impacted your work and career? Contribute your story to #Happy20thONA.
Celebrating 20 years of @ONA! The org was important to my career development as a working journalist. And in my role at @knightfdn, it’s been a privilege to help connect ONA to even more people in the industry. Here’s to another great 20 years! #Happy20thONA — Lashara S. Bunting
October is 8 years for me at @parsely. I joined with no journalism or media background at all so I immediately immersed myself in #ONANYC and this incredible community shared so much with me that, without it, there’s no way I could have succeeded. Thank you @ONA #Happy20thONA — John Levitt

Upcoming events

ONA Local groups regularly host events for digital journalists all over the world. Find a group near you or learn how to start a new one.

Jobs in journalism

ONA’s Career Center is an excellent resource for jobs in digital journalism. Recent postings include:

On our radar