ONA Community Circles connect the digital journalism community in a time of physical distancing.
The following are descriptions of the two Community Circles working groups. You’ll have the opportunity to choose ONE to participate in below.
Project 1: How might we better handle misinformation around public health issues?
The aim of this project will be to create a shareable playbook of resources for newsrooms on tackling misinformation with an intersectional lens. The group will work to collect the many existing resources and case studies about news organizations’ digital strategies around public health crises to create a shared resource document, summarizing what we’ve learned in the past six months about how public health misinformation spreads, what newsrooms should look out for and how they can respond and prevent misinformation from spreading in their communities. The group can also fill gaps they find in their research with original content based on their experiences, and should consider intersectionality in evaluating the strategies and best practices and look for gaps where existing resources haven’t addressed the impacts of misinformation on marginalized communities.
Facilitators: Smitha Khorana, Newsroom Outreach Lead at Data & Society, and Fergus Bell, ONA Board Member
Project 2: How might we ensure information access equity in our communities?
This working group will aim to create a guide for news organizations to ensure equitable information access in their communities, including how to identify gaps in access, how to consider access across languages, technology/delivery, coverage and more. The goal is to develop a central equity and accessibility hub where newsrooms can learn more about the factors they need to take into consideration, and find case studies and existing resources relevant to the topic. The outcome will be a shared document listing the issues that might affect information access in a newsroom’s community, with explanations for each of how to identify where the newsroom may have gaps and links to resources that the newsroom can use to evaluate and improve their accessibility.
Facilitators: Vanessa Maria Graber, News Voices NJ Manager at Free Press, and Anita Li, ONA Board Member
Apply to join by Friday, Oct. 23 at 11:59 p.m. ET.
ONA is looking to partner with sponsors and funders to support Community Circles. Contact Jessica Strelitz at jessica@journalists.org or schedule a time to discuss via phone or video chat.