I’m excited to share how we’re approaching ONA programming in 2025 and invite you to get involved. ONA has long been the go-to resource for learning what you need to pay attention to next, to better serve news audiences and thrive in the next few years of your journalism career. What motivates me most about being part of this vibrant community is that it’s truly a hub for people who, even amid rapid change and disruption, can see opportunities to strengthen and reinforce the value that journalism brings.
Our strength is in the diversity of our membership and the community you’ve helped create. It spans all news production functions, geographies, backgrounds and expertise—from audience development, reporting and editing to leadership and independent creatorship. ONA members often tell us about the magical moment of meeting someone who has the same “weird” job as you do. And sometimes those “weird” jobs only seem that way because you’re one of the first to do it.
Over the years, our members have come to us to learn about the biggest issues and opportunities facing our industry and to make sense of them—together.
In 2025, we’re leaning into three focus areas we believe impact every role in journalism: AI, climate, and resilience. From virtual training to community meetings to the annual conference, our work will embrace collaboration and innovation around these themes, cross-cutting the major areas of practice you’ve come to expect from ONA, including audience development, leadership/strategy, practical insights and tools, and revenue and sustainability. Throughout the year, ONA will convene the conversations to help you get a clear-eyed picture of their impact on your role, your organization and your community.
ONA’s 2025 Program Focus Areas
Artificial intelligence
ONA’s AI in Journalism Initiative has engaged nearly 3,000 of you representing more than 1,500 organizations since it launched a year ago. AI technology continues to change everything about the news industry, including news production, business models and audience behaviors. In previous technological shifts, newsrooms have been tempted to leave it to one or two staffers to “figure it out.” And with a tremendous amount of respect to the “digital kids” who took on that work—many of whom found their way to ONA, myself included!—this time we need to do it differently. That’s why in 2025, we’re leaning into helping the new iteration of journalistic changemakers bring the industry along, proactively implementing ethical AI strategies that serve our information ecosystems and addressing not only the use of AI but also newsroom cultures that allow for experimentation and adoption.
Climate
There’s a saying that every journalist is a climate journalist now. In a literal sense, the climate affects where we all live and operate, and the changes to our climate impact everyone. In the same way we can’t leave “figuring out AI” to a few specialized people in the newsroom, we can’t leave climate only to the environmental journalists who have been paving the way. Climate change touches our business operations and how we engage with audiences. Most importantly, our communities need us to help them meet this moment.
Resilience
When change feels lightning speed, resilience is more important than ever—in our individual careers, in our organizations and in our communities. How can we make journalism a career we can all enthusiastically encourage people to explore, no matter their background? How can we support the career pathways of independent creators providing important and often life-saving news and information to their audiences, and how can organizations learn from and engage with them? How can we build news organizations that operate sustainably and can continue to meet information needs, especially in the local realm? And given the disruptions facing our field, including waning trust in institutions, what could be journalists’ role in helping make our communities stronger and better connected? We’re committed to moving the conversation forward on these questions in our programming.
Working across functions
Each of these focus areas impacts people working in all types of news production roles across the industry. Since our power as a community is in the different perspectives our members bring to the discussion, we’ll cross-cut each of the focus areas with different journalistic functions. Together, we’ll explore how each of these issues impacts the following areas of practice:
- Leadership, strategy and culture
- Technology and product
- Reporting and editing
- Revenue and sustainability
- Audience development
- Entrepreneurship and creator journalism
Chime in!
We want to hear your thoughts on these focus areas—how they show up in your work, what intersections stand out to you and how you want to contribute. Is there a hard conversation you’re hesitant to engage in but know we should take on now? What are we missing?
Here are a few ways we’d love to hear from you:
- Co-host a virtual community event or conversation: ONA hosts virtual trainings and community conversations year-round via Zoom to connect the community around what’s happening now and next for our industry. If you have a virtual session idea, pitch it to us.
- Present at ONA25 in New Orleans (Sept. 10–13): We’ll open the call for pitches in March, and we’re especially looking for sessions on how AI, climate and resilience impact different journalistic functions, like leadership, audience, revenue, creatorship and more. Start thinking about your pitch now — and send me a note if you have a concept you’d like help honing.
- Help design the ONA25 program: We’re recruiting volunteers now for the volunteer program committee. We’re looking for volunteers representing a variety of roles in news production, including independent creators and all newsroom functions, and we’re especially interested in people who have a unique perspective on AI, climate or resilience in journalism. Learn more about the role and apply by Thursday, Feb. 13.
- Showcase your work through the Online Journalism Awards: Each year we honor exceptional projects in more than 20 categories, including climate reporting, community engagement and AI innovation. The call for entries for the 2025 OJAs will open in the next few months. Now is a great time to start connecting with your team about which projects to submit.
- Partner with ONA: We’re excited to collaborate with other individuals, groups and organizations who are also thinking about AI, climate, and resilience. We’re seeking partners for programming, promotion, sponsorship, and philanthropic funding. Send me a note at meghan@journalists.org if you’d like to hear more about partnering with ONA.
I hope this update sparked a few ideas and that you’re inspired to keep working together in the coming months.
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