WASHINGTON – Thousands of forward-thinking journalists are looking toward the future of news, and realizing things need to change.
The Online News Association‘s three-day annual conference is underway in Atlanta.
“Our goal is to bridge that gap between journalists and new technology,” says current president Jim Brady, who is Editor-in-Chief of Digital First Media, where he oversees 75 daily newspapers, 292 non-daily publications and 341 online sites that are owned by Journal Register Company and MediaNews Group.
Earlier, Brady was general manager of TBD and executive editor of washingtonpost.com.
In a changing news environment, Brady says the primary goal of journalists remains the same.
“We try to train them and teach them about new tools, and new ways of telling stories,” says Brady.
This year, ONA was approached by a group of education foundations to encourage universities to create teams that will experiment with new ways of providing news and information.
“I’m very excited to get asked to run a $1-million-dollar challenge grant, to kind of reboot journalism education,” says Brady, speaking to WTOP from Atlanta.
With a digital-first strategy, “we’re getting more and more involved in trying to change other parts of the industry, or help promote change in those parts of the industry is something we’re very excited about,” says Brady.