Meghan Murphy’s ONA22 session picks for journalism leaders and changemakers

Meghan Murphy is Director of Programs at the Online News Association (ONA). She taps into her community building expertise to create programs that connect changemaker ONA members to solve big problems facing journalism.


As we get closer to ONA22, I’m starting to develop my schedule and am excited to share my must-see sessions. Organizational leaders and anyone interested in newsroom culture have a lot of options for learning and networking. Check out this list of selections from our leadership and culture track and start to plan your conference week now!

Tap into what’s next

We hear from attendees that participating in ONA conferences helps them stay in touch with emerging trends that inform their strategy for the next few years, so it’s a particularly important forum for leaders to know where they need to focus. Start your session picks with the attendee-favorite 15th Annual Tech Trends in Journalism (livestream available), where you’ll hear about the most interesting technology trends that will affect journalism and journalists, and how to incorporate planning for future tech developments into your strategy. At the ONA Legal Workshop, learn how an unprecedented year in media law will affect your organization in 2022 and beyond. Then, hear what’s next for ONA and digital journalism (video available) from an impressive slate of candidates for the ONA Board of Directors, leaders shaping the future of our industry. 

Plan your coverage strategy 

Join us for a conversation about how inclusion — and the lack thereof — directly impacts the coverage of some of the most critical issues we’re currently facing in AAPI Women Guiding and Fashioning Editorial Coverage. Hear important lessons for covering the 2022 U.S. midterm elections and inform your coverage plan with 22 Lessons For The 2022 Midterms (livestream available).

Create your roadmap for change

You’ll learn from some of the top changemakers in journalism at ONA22 and leave with strategies for challenging the status quo at your own organization. Start by learning how to conduct an internal listening tour (livestream available) that will bring challenges to the surface, create internal alignment around solutions and isolate and resolve colleagues’ obstacles. Hear from some of the women leading change across our industry in Real Talk with the Women’s Leadership Accelerator, featuring alums of ONA’s women’s leadership program. Finally, newsroom management of the future will focus on empathy and flexibility and will challenge traditional newsroom cultures, and you can learn how to get started right now (livestream available). 

Build and support your team

ONA22’s leadership and culture track will send you home with a wealth of ideas on how to build and support your team and create a more equitable organization. Make sure to check out the featured conversation Inclusive and Equitable News Spaces are the Future: Four Methods to Get You Started Now (livestream available), which will provide concrete techniques and step-by-step guides to building more inclusive and equitable spaces in your organization. Editors can learn how to uplift and support Indigenous journalists in How To Center And Support Indigenous Journalists In News Orgs. And don’t miss the third installment of our series on pay equity hosted in partnership with the Maynard Institute and OpenNews as part of our Vision25 initiative.

Finally, smart leaders stay on top of emerging hiring trends to strategize how to recruit the best talent for their organizations. How To Hire And Team Build In A Post-Pandemic World will help you do just that — laying out exactly what it will take to recruit, hire and develop talent in 2023 and beyond.

Shape the future of our industry with other leaders at ONA22

Table Talks — our participatory session format that tackles big questions and issues in our industry — are a favorite of many of us on the ONA team and previous attendees, too! Leaders will want to make sure to participate in these small-group discussions, especially the ones on supporting your team’s online safety, trans issues in media, accessibility in news, covering climate change, and deconstructing the myth of the “pipeline problem” in hiring

What are you excited to see at the conference? Share with us using the hashtag #ONA22

Register for ONA22