This past weekend, I went to a ONA [Online News Association] Conference. They provide trainings, awards and programs to support digital journalists. ONA has been around since 1999 with chapters all over the U.S. including New Orleans, which started last year. I was able to meet journalists, editors and content creators from online news and traditional media, most of them create or manage digital content, and they were able to share innovative practices newsrooms are taking on. Topics from the conference included, creating a healthy news environment, collaboration between newsrooms, digital innovations in traditional media, and trust in the media, which is a specially relevant in today’s political climate. These days the word media has a bad connotation thanks to a certain popular phrase,”fake news,” but it’s because we’re letting corrupt politicians define what it is. It’s not a monolithic source of opinions, but a diverse array of stories based on research, presented through different mediums. As journalists, we should strive to build a back and forth conversation with our communities, instead of the one-sided, traditional approach.
Portrait of June 