Featured at ONA26: How Journalism Can Model Curiosity, Confront Bias and Reduce Polarization

It's no secret that political polarization is eroding trust, community relationships, and civic problem-solving — and that journalism plays a key role in either intensifying or helping to repair that dynamic. Joy Mayer, founder and executive director of Trusting News, and Mónica Guzmán, CEO of Reclaim Curiosity and best-selling author, will explore this challenge in the featured session How Journalism Can Model Curiosity, Confront Bias and Reduce Polarization on Tuesday, March 31, 2026 at 11:30 a.m. CT at ONA26.

Together, we’ll dive into:

• What could it look like for journalists to create the conditions for communities to constructively negotiate their differences — and to model curiosity, even when the stakes are high? 

• What gets in the way of journalists investigating their own assumptions about people across the political spectrum and seeing their politically diverse communities with more nuance and clarity? 

• Without compromising on what is true, how can journalists make a collective truth easier for the public to find together?

Mónica and Joy will also host an ONA26 workshop Wednesday, April 1 teaching strategies for leading depolarization in journalism. The workshop will put into practice many of the themes discussed in the featured session. Attendees will leave more equipped to meet a divided world with coverage that is curious, humble and open — and to encourage the public to respond similarly. 

Meet our speakers

Joy Mayer is the founder and executive director of Trusting News, a project that studies how people decide what news to trust and helps journalists and the public understand each other. She and her team train newsrooms on strategies for demonstrating credibility and actively earning trust. She launched Trusting News in 2016 after a 20-year career in newsrooms and as a professor at the Missouri School of Journalism. She is based in Sarasota, Florida.

Mónica Guzmán is a bridge builder, journalist, and author who lives for great conversations sparked by curious questions. Her best-selling book, “I Never Thought of it That Way: How to Have Fearlessly Curious Conversations in Dangerously Divided Times,” has been featured in The New York Times, The Glenn Beck Podcast, and Reader's Digest, and was named one of the 10 best books to read before college by U.S. News. Mónica is founder and CEO of Reclaim Curiosity, where she works to build a world that sees itself, and advisor for Braver Angels, the nation’s largest cross-partisan grassroots organization working to depolarize America. 

Register by Feb. 26 for discounted pass

ONA26 will take place March 30-April 1, 2026 in Chicago. Register for ONA26 today to attend this featured session, connected workshop and more. Members can purchase a discounted Getting Closer pass for $495 by Feb. 26; prices increase to $600 on Feb. 27. 

Learn more about ONA26 and the program.