OpenNews

OpenNews
Name	OpenNews
Type	Nonprofit organization
Founded	2011
Headquarters	San Francisco, California
Region served	Global
Focus	Journalism technology, newsroom innovation, open-source software

OpenNews OpenNews is a nonprofit organization focused on supporting journalism through technology, open-source software, and professional communities. It operates at the intersection of newsrooms, developers, and designers, engaging with practitioners from institutions such as The New York Times, The Guardian, ProPublica, The Washington Post, and BBC News. The organization has worked with foundations and institutions including the Knight Foundation, Google News Initiative, Mozilla Foundation, Facebook Journalism Project, and Craig Newmark Philanthropies to advance tools, standards, and shared practices.

History

OpenNews emerged in the early 2010s amid a wider shift in newsrooms toward computational reporting, data visualization, and developer-led projects. Its origins are linked to conversations among technologists at events like the NICAR conference and hackathons associated with Eyebeam and NICAR-Drupal communities. Early leadership included technologists who had worked at The New York Times Company, BuzzFeed, and Nieman Lab, and the organization benefited from partnerships with philanthropic funders such as the Knight Foundation and programmatic support from the Mozilla Foundation. Over time, OpenNews broadened its remit from code sprints and editorial tool development to international fellowships, publishing, and convenings that connected practitioners from Al Jazeera, Reuters, Agence France-Presse, and regional outlets across Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

Mission and Activities

The mission emphasizes improving the quality, accessibility, and sustainability of news through shared technical knowledge, documentation, and community-building. Activities include hosting fellowship programs that place journalist-developers at news organizations like ProPublica and Chicago Tribune, producing editorial and technical guides used by teams at The Guardian, and curating open-source projects that complement newsroom workflows. OpenNews has prioritized interoperability and standards, aligning work with initiatives led by institutions such as W3C, ICANN-adjacent efforts in web standards, and open-data collaborations with OpenCorporates and OpenStreetMap. It engages with award programs like the Pulitzer Prize and GEN to highlight innovation in data-driven reporting.

Programs and Initiatives

Key programs have included fellowship schemes, editorial fellowships, code sprints, and mentorship networks that pair developers with editorial teams. Fellowship alumni have gone on to roles at organizations including Vox Media, NPR, Los Angeles Times, The Atlantic, and VICE Media. Technical initiatives have produced tools and documentation used by projects at ProPublica (investigative tools), The New York Times (interactive graphics pipelines), and nonprofit platforms such as GroundTruth Project. OpenNews has supported open-source repositories and promoted best practices from software projects like D3.js, GitHub, and Node.js in journalistic contexts. It has also run training modules and editorial curricula influenced by pedagogical partners such as Columbia Journalism School, Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, and UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism.

Conferences and Events

OpenNews has convened gatherings that blend elements of editorials conferences like NICAR and technology festivals such as Strata Data Conference and South by Southwest. Its events have featured speakers from The New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic, FiveThirtyEight, and academic actors from MIT Media Lab and Harvard Kennedy School. Code sprints and hackdays organized by the group have been co-located with major festivals including SXSW, Open Data Day, and regional journalism meetings hosted by Africa Check and Asia Pacific Editors Network. These events emphasized cross-disciplinary sessions that brought together practitioners from DataKind, Code for America, Engine Room, and civic tech initiatives.

Collaborations and Partnerships

Collaborations span commercial newsrooms, nonprofit labs, academic centers, and philanthropic funders. Partners have included legacy media institutions like The Washington Post and Chicago Tribune, nonprofit investigative outlets such as ProPublica and International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, and tech companies like Google and Mozilla. Academic partnerships involved Columbia University, Stanford University centers focused on journalism, and research teams at Oxford Internet Institute. Open-source and civic tech collaborations connected it to OpenStreetMap Foundation, OpenCorporates, and community groups such as Code for America and DataKind. Funders and supporters included the Knight Foundation, Mozilla Foundation, Craig Newmark Philanthropies, and programmatic grants from global funders active in media innovation.

Impact and Reception

The organization has been credited with accelerating newsroom adoption of data visualization, reproducible workflows, and collaborative tooling. Projects and fellowships helped seed technical talent that influenced products and investigative projects at outlets like The Guardian, BBC News, and ProPublica. Coverage in media and academic reviews has noted OpenNews’s role in shaping best practices; commentators from Nieman Lab, Columbia Journalism Review, and Tow Center for Digital Journalism have discussed its contributions to skills development and community norms. Critics have sometimes argued that the focus on code and technical skill favored well-resourced newsrooms in cities like New York City and London over smaller regional outlets, prompting expansions toward global and regional programming. Overall, the organization is seen as a node within a broader ecosystem that includes newsrooms, foundations, and civic-tech projects working to modernize journalistic practice.

Category:Journalism organizations