VOICES FROM THE FIELD Interns Get a Taste of Real-World Journalism
PHOTO CREDITS: DELL: MARK BONIFACIO/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS; WELSCH: DAVE SIDAWAY; PETREE: BIKO RADING; SODARO: JON BETTIN/MLS DIGITAL; REID: DELWYN VERASAMY; AWAD: MAANVI SINGH; YU: ROSE SCOTT/WABE NEWS
Class of 2013 interns, clockwise from top left: Chris Dell does a subway interview for the New York Daily News with former Mets manager and Yankees second baseman Willie Randolph on the way to the All-Star Game at Citi Field; Andrew Welsch reports on the use of 3D imaging technology in auto repairs for The Montreal Gazette; Karen Petree sets up a camera before an interview with members of a community youth organization in Nairobi’s Mathare slum for A24 Media; John Sodaro adjusts a GoPro camera on the goal post at Red Bull Arena in New York for mlssoccer.com; Skyler Reid shoots for the Mail & Guardian in Johannesburg, South Africa; Ann Awad gets ready to do a voiceover for WHYY-FM, 90.9 FM, in Philadelphia; Elly Yu talks to a market security manager for WABE, 90.1 FM, Atlanta’s NPR station. “My supervisor, Corey Flintoff, is a great mentor. On my first day in the office, he asked me to cover an opposition protest against the government of President Vladimir Putin. Still jet-lagged, I collected sound from the protest, conducted interviews, came back, and selected cuts of tape to use. Corey wrote a script, called it in to NPR’s newscast producer, and got me on the air that very day.”
— Susan Armitage, NPR, Moscow
“While I admit to having a donut (or two) in the office, it’s only to fuel my journalistic engine for all the assignments I’ve received . . . I’ve had the chance to cover a professional sports beat for the first time in my life . . . What’s great is also the feedback I’ve received from not just one or two, but at least three different editors, whether it’s for the web or print. And I didn’t even ask for it!”
— Chris Dell, Daily News, New York
“My days at CNNMoney.com are full and always exciting. The reporters I work with are smart, dedicated, and concerned with making the news accessible to readers. I am always encouraged and pushed to explore my ideas and not simply let them die.” — Angela Johnson, CNNMoney.com, New York
“The best experience was working on a 1,200-word feature article about sustainable weddings, which I pitched. It turned out to be a hit and was a great lesson in using reporting skills to find ‘real people’ and then networking to get the interviews I needed.” — Laura Lorenzetti, Crain’s New York Business, New York vol . 8 , no . 1
“If you’re looking for credits or airtime, or if you want to do hard news, this internship is not for you. If you want to see how international media houses operate and make contacts in this part of the world, then this is a good option. You have to be patient and realize that in many ways you are light years ahead of the crew (post-production meetings consist of ‘the map shows the wrong Congo’ or ‘such-and-such is spelled wrong.’) If you have initiative and you’re resourceful, you can do other projects on the weekends. For example, my capstone is a multimedia travel blog project, so that’s what I focused on during weekends, and during my abundance of free time in which I was required to sit in a chair and stare at a computer during the week.” — Karen Petree, A24 Media/Africa Journal, Nairobi
“I’m learning what it takes to produce, shoot and edit stories as an independent video journalist with a flexible connection to an arts website. I’m also learning that you really have to be passionate and committed to telling your subject’s story. It’s more than pointing the camera at them and writing some copy. It’s finding the parts of their story that other people can connect with – people who may or may not be familiar with dance.” — Lisa Rinehart, Culturebot.com, New York
“I’ve delighted in holding on to the same beat I had during Craft class this year… I feel I’m developing a better understanding of how to cover a neighborhood by cultivating relationships with officials and longtime residents. Most CUNY students don’t stay for the sum-
“We’ve covered hydraulic fracking in upstate New York and the grassroots organizations opposed to the process.” — Mikhael Simmonds mer in their community districts, so people in Bushwick can tell that I remain interested in what’s happening in the community.” — Tobias Salinger, City Limits, Brooklyn
“The type of topics we cover has given me an interesting view of the U.S. as a foreign country. This is particularly important to me as a foreign student focused on international reporting. We’ve covered hydraulic fracking in upstate New York and the grassroots organizations opposed to the process, the effects some of the decisions the Supreme Court may have on ethnic and LGBTQ communities, violence against women… to name a few.” — Mikhael Simmonds, GRITtv.org, New York
“When I had my first spot air on the national NPR newscast, that was an exciting moment for me. I really feel I’ve come very far from the time I started journalism school to where I am now. And as cheesy as it sounds, I feel as if my dream of becoming a public radio reporter is coming true. It’s an awesome feeling, and I can see myself doing this for the rest of my life.”
— Elly Yu, WABE, 90.1 FM, NPR member station, Atlanta
FALL 2013
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