The problem with ONA

[Commentary] About 3,000 journalists gathered in Washington (DC) this weekend to contemplate the future of journalism. A $989 ticket for non-members of the Online News Association, or $659 for members, bought you access to a Google News espresso bar and three days of panel discussions on technology and journalism. The annual conference was blissfully free of the same old Trump talk, and instead focused on the ripples the political climate is making in the press: on trust, revenue, and bias. But many of the conversations showed that journalists, especially in smaller newsrooms, are looking for short-term solutions to declining business models rather than viable long-term strategies. At times, the prevailing mood was desperation; one session was titled, “Getting the Most Out of Your Content: Maximizing the Value of Your Journalism with Fewer Resources in a Multi-Platform World.”