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2020 APA Virtual Convention is next week
Guest Column: Who do you support on the election ballot? By Jim Pumarlo
Arkansas Press Association
Publisher Weekly Vol. 15 | No. 38 | Thursday, September 17, 2020 | Serving Press and State Since 1873
Real-world experience essential for ANF interns For five young reporters who’d spent their college years practicing their skills, it was finally game time this summer. The participants in the Arkansas Newspaper Foundation’s annual summer internship program spent their break learning valuable lessons in Arkansas Press Association member newsrooms. While at the forefront of coverage of weighty topics like the coronavirus and social unrest, the interns said they gained essential experience they would not have been able to obtain anywhere else. “This internship allowed me to go out in the field and write real articles,” said Krishnan Collins, who worked for The Daily Record in Little Rock. “And until you actually go out and do it, it’s a totally different ballgame. It’s like sports. You can practice every day, but when you get in a real-life situation, it’s totally different.” Collins is currently the editor-in-chief
Krishnan Collins
Kolton Rutherford
at the Herald student newspaper at Arkansas State University. Other ANF interns this year were Kolton Rutherford, a University of Arkansas at Little Rock graduate who worked for the Log Cabin Democrat in Conway; Jordan Woodson, a UALR student who worked for the Daily Citizen in Searcy; Matthew Smothers, a University of Central Arkansas student who worked for The Jonesboro Sun; and Pete Tubbs, a Henderson State University student who worked for the Arkadelphia Dispatch. This year, for the first time ever, the newspaper foundation fully funded the internship program, more than doubling its funding for interns because of the ongoing hardships faced by newspapers during the pandemic and subsequent economic crisis. In previous years, the foundation paid half of a $3,000 intern stipend and participating newspapers were required to pay the other half.
Pete Tubbs
This year, the foundation contributed $15,000 to support the effort. The program is successful every year in connecting student journalists who need on-the-job experience and training with a newspaper seeking a qualified candidate to fill a temporary position. “Our interns this year delivered important help to Arkansas newspapers when the publications needed it most, and I’m extremely glad this program has been successful both for APA member newspapers and for student journalists,” said Rusty Fraser, president of the Arkansas Newspaper Foundation and publisher of the Stone County Leader in Mountain Home. Collins praised Wesley Brown, publisher of the Daily Record for encouraging him to make connections, offering tips for locating sources and for giving him the time and independence to learn and flourish as a reporter.
Jordan Woodson
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Matthew Smothers