A strategic shift for Online News Association

This month, ONA’s long-time staff will leave the organization. ... I will continue to lead ONA as CEO and executive director, working with the board of directors, led by Andrew Fitzgerald, as we chart the path forward for the organization.”

Niketa Patel, executive director/CEO, Online News Association

I have some news to share about ONA’s new strategic shift. 

Since we gathered in Chicago for ONA26, many of you have asked when we will be together again. Unfortunately, it will not be in 2027. ONA has decided to pause our in-person events and will not host a conference in 2027.

I want to explain why, and what happens next. First, though, I want to say what this community has meant to all of us. 

Twenty-seven years of showing up

In 1999, a group of journalists and technologists saw the internet as the future of journalism, years before many newsrooms were ready to agree. They built a community where the people doing this work could learn from one another and try new things together. That community became the Online News Association.

In the years since, this community has been where journalism’s biggest questions about technology were asked early and most honestly. Together, we moved through the early web and into social platforms, mobile, video, data and artificial intelligence, always asking what these changes mean for the people who report the news and the communities who depend on them. Through ONA, newsrooms of every size found a common language and a place to learn. And individuals who were building non-traditional paths within journalism and felt like outsiders, the “little green martians” of their newsrooms, as former board president Charo Henríquez described us, found others trying to solve the same problems, asking the same questions and wanting to try the same experiments.

For many years, the annual conference also sustained ONA’s work year-round. That is why the decision not to hold one in 2027 is one the board and I have not made lightly.

A difficult decision

Before the pandemic, the annual conference was ONA’s biggest source of revenue, and together with grants, it sustained the organization. This is no longer true. The costs of large convenings have climbed sharply while professional development and sponsorship budgets have shrunk. We worked to diversify our revenue, but the board and I have reached the point where we must decide what ONA can continue and what it must pause. 

What does this mean for the organization?

This month, ONA’s long-time staff will leave the organization. Over many years, they carried this community, one conference, one program and one conversation at a time. I am grateful to them beyond what I can easily express here. I will continue to lead ONA as CEO and executive director, working with the board of directors, led by Andrew Fitzgerald, as we chart the path forward for the organization.  

The Women’s Leadership Accelerator will continue on as one of ONA’s signature programs, and a call for the 2027 class will open early in the new year. Our online resources and the ONA Weekly newsletter will also continue. 

What’s next?

The board and I remain committed to ONA’s mission. We are exploring partnerships and other ways to carry this work forward and to bring our community together again. We will continue to update you over time.

This community has recognized excellence through the Online Journalism Awards, starting at a time when no other journalism awards program accepted online-only submissions. It opened industry doors to many, through the Student Newsroom, the MJ Bear Fellowship, the HBCU Fellowship and Women’s Leadership Accelerator. It helped people find neighbors through ONA Local and test new technologies through Journalism 360, the Challenge Fund and the AI in Journalism Initiative. The annual conference was one place we came together, but the community has always been larger than any single event. Many of you found a mentor, a collaborator, a new job or the confidence to try something new through ONA. Others took early ideas presented in the Start-Up Alley and built them into successful companies. And still others found lifelong friends and, in some cases, a spouse, by being a part of this incredible community.

To everyone who has been a part of ONA as a member, speaker, volunteer, judge, sponsor, fellow, mentor or attendee, thank you. The conference was one place we gathered. But, what we have built together is bigger than any one place, and it goes with you into every newsroom and conversation you carry it to. We are so thankful for all of the love and support especially now as we embark on this strategic shift.

Niketa Patel is the executive director/CEO of the Online News Association.