Name and Discuss TWO things you learned at your internship.
Be sure to include in discussion HOW you will take those two things forward with you as you move on.
(Notice the nice Spring color. Be sure to post in our other Threads as you see fit ... And remember, this space will continue to be open to you as you go out into the Big Wide World.)
Let me say first, I learned a lot considering it was my first internship. If I had to narrow it down to two things, it would have to be feature writing and eliminating dead writing.
-What I mean by “Feature writing” is featuring a player/person in the story rather than bombard readers with stats and quotes they can find online. The World Wide Web has changed sports-writing. Mainly in that you have to find either a piece of information or tell a story that a person cant Google on the Internet. I was fortunate enough that the sports staff at the Tallahassee Democrat help me in that sense. I am able to “watch” a game rather than rely on a leading scorer to bail me out if I don’t have a theme for my story.
One of my goals in writing is to tell the story so a reader who was unable to attend the event gets a sense of what the environment was. The Democrat helped me with that craft, and I feel more confident writing in that manner, than “Joe Schmo hit a home run en route to the team’s 1-0 win.” Anyone can find that information if they get a box-score, but if you tell a reader that it was the first time he hit home run, and give the emotions, its better in my mind.
-Eliminating dead writing for me was tough. I was so used to rambling on in my writing that I thought it was OK. Fortunately for me a sports writer took me under his wing and explained how more often then not, short an concise writing tells a better story. He was right. Here are a few grafs from my final story used as an example.
Before my internship I would have written the beginning like this.
Florida State senior Carolin Walter scored the winning point in a tiebreaker game against North Carolina junior Austin Smith, ensuring her team of the upset victory over the No. 12 ranked Tar Heels.
Instead I wrote this.
There was complete silence at the Scott Speicher Tennis Center.
Only the announcements from a track meet 100 feet away could be heard. But the peace and quiet turned to joyous ovation.
With a quick swing of the racket, Florida State senior Carolin Walter assured the No. 21 ranked Seminoles a 4-3 upset victory against the No. 12 Tar Heels. Hugs were plentiful after the win, but the bashful smile on the hero’s face told the story.
“It was unbelievable,” Walter said. “I came back and clinched the last point . . . I was so relieved.”
It’s interesting to see the evolution of my writing style over the course of the internship. As I write my post, I find myself deleting words, hoping to find the right one to make the sentence sound good.
-In terms of what I will take away from the internship. I have one important thing. Creating a network in Tallahassee. As Mary Ann said before, “Our business has two degrees of separation.” It is nice to know you have people in this business that you know.
-Second, I hope that I can always find the time to improve myself. One of the sports writers gave me a great piece of advice. “I’ve been writing 10 years, and I still find myself learning different ways to do things.” You learn everyday, no matter how much you deny it. I hope to keep that mentality as I pursue my career.
I hope that I can always find the time to improve myself. One of the sports writers gave me a great piece of advice. “I’ve been writing 10 years, and I still find myself learning different ways to do things.” You learn everyday ...
Carlos—great thoughts. Great advice. And oh so true… I have been doing this for, like (gasp!) 30 years, and I keep learning stuff everyday ... have probably learned more in the past 5 years than all the other years combined. Just for fun, read my blogspot on artistic growth: http://tinyurl.com/3b3dfz
First of all I want to say this experience has been really great for me as a writer. At first I was afraid because as a second language person I taught I was going to have a hard time. In fact, I think the experience was challenging in many aspects, but it helped me grow as a writer and it helped me to believe in myself more often.
I think one of the things I learned was to be more creative with my leads and take a different approach to every story I got. For example this is the way I wrote a lead for a recent story about Cesar Chavez Day.
Santiago Flores has picked strawberries for 37 years in fields throughout California. But what Flores, 52, remembers the most from all these years is a humble, compassionate man who made a difference not only in his life but also in the lives of many farmworkers.
“I didn’t know what a break was until things changed, thanks to Cesar Chavez’s work,” Flores said.is
Flores lives at Villa Cesar Chavez Farmworker Family Apartments in Oxnard, where 300 people gathered Saturday to celebrate Cesar Chavez Day, which is officially recognized in California on Monday.
To me this is a great improvement because in the past I could have said So many people gathered Sunday for....instead I look for a very unique way of telling the story through the eyes of one person who actually live there and participated in the event.
Another great aspect that I leaned is to cover the police beat, a beat that I was doing on Saturdays. I think at the beginning I was afraid that I was not going to be able to pull it of but I did and I’m proud of it. Overall, I think we keep on learning about journalism as we continue to discover new things and new people we just need to be open to it…
I can’t wait to see you all in Nashville, it seems by the looks at the agenda that we will be pretty busy with the multimedia training it should be fun....
For me, working down here in Jackson has opened a new world for me, and I feel confident now in my writing abilities that I can compete with many of the best journalists in the world.
One thing I learned is just how important your reputation follows you. Luckily for me, while working down here, I have developed a pretty good reputation as a reporter. I found that coaches and players opened up to me more throughout the season seeing a face that will write a credible story in the paper.
I also learned about being fair when reporting. Before I got down to Jackson, I often would single out people in my sports stories. If a player made a mistake during the game, I would have no qualms about putting how they messed up in the story. Not to be mean or a jerk, I was just putting down the truth.
I tried the same thing down here in Jackson when a girl missed a free throw at the end of high school district championship game, and my editor let me know thats not fair to her. I got the picture quickly because high school students are only volunteering to play, while college athletes are on scholarship and professional athletes are paid and expected to perform. I saw that there isn’t a need to call out everyone that makes a mistake in my writing; I had to take in account the seriousness of the situation.
I still have a month left down here, so there is still much more for me to learn and grasp.
THIS $#!* IS HARD! That is one of the main things that I am going to take from my internship, whenever it ends. I didn’t think that it was going to be so difficult. I figured that, since I’m an “intern,” no one was going to take my corrections seriously and just discard them. Boy, was I wrong.
Several weeks after my internship commenced, officials for Bay Are News Group-East Bay offered voluntary buyouts, instead of laying people off. A few people from the copy desk were granted their buyouts and, just like that, the copy desk was two people short. I knew I had to at least try and step up my copy editing efforts.
Reading story after story, writing headline after headline, cutline after cutline and summary after summary, working at the copy desk is non-stop. While you learn what goes on around your newspaper’s neighborhoods and around the world, it is hard work. While it has been hard, everyone is helpful and, when I have gotten stuck, I have asked questions. That’s how I have moved forward. The whole point of an internship is to better your journalism career and there is no better way than to ask questions, especially to people who have been in the news business longer than you have.
Fortunately for me everyone has been helpful.
The other thing that I learned is that, even though it’s difficult, I think I want to continue to work at a copy desk when it’s all said and done. I thought I wanted to be a sports writer but there is nothing wrong with trying to be a sports copy editor. I get to read what goes on in the sports world while not having to cover events, contacting sources, interviewing, getting lost on streets I don’t know of, spending ridiculous amounts of money on these ridiculous gas prices and everything else.
I plan to obtain this goal be bettering my techniques, expanding my vocabulary (because there are a bunch of crazy words that have been used to substitute some of the language from my headlines that I never would have thought of or that I never have heard of), asking questions and hopefully that would speak for itself.
It’s going to be kind of tough to boil down what I’ve learned into only two things, but here it goes. I’ve learned that working as a team makes all the difference in the newsroom. When I started, the content staff would stay significantly late (the day before deadline) wrapping things up. However, we’ve gotten a lot better and it’s all due to teamwork. It may sound cheesy, but it’s true. The other major thing I’ve learned is to not turn away an interview, even if you think you already have all of your sources. You never know what that other person might say. It may end up being that special quote.
Since I’m already a full-timer, I don’t expect to be moving on. However, I do hope to continue learning as I go. I’ll definitely keep doing what I’ve done so far, especially since it’s worked so well for me.
At first I was afraid because as a second language person I taught I was going to have a hard time. In fact, I think the experience was challenging in many aspects, but it helped me grow as a writer and it helped me to believe in myself ...
..
This is a wonderful contribution from Ana ... sometimes a “skill” you learn—how to do a certain kind of lede, etc—can take second place to the greater accomplishment still of having conquered the fears that defined who you were when you started. By definition, moving into the realm of self-confidence means more and better skills to follow! Yaaaaaaay!
One thing I learned is just how important your reputation follows you ...
I also learned about being fair when reporting ...
Wow, Matthew. These are great. I mean, serious bedrock journalistic lessons to take with you. As with Ana above, these kinds of skills, more global than how to write, etc., will pave the way for all sorts of good things!
I figured that, since I’m an “intern,” no one was going to take my corrections seriously and just discard them. Boy, was I wrong.
Sergio—this is really interesting, and a view I am sure that is shared by your fellow Threaders… sometimes people go into internships figuring, oh, I’m the low man on the totem pole (which in a way is true), but TRUTH IS, you are also a valuable set of eyes and hands. I remember a Chipster who was an intern when the Columbine school massacre happened. One day he was manning the phones. The next day he was sent out on an interview. His observation: “In a crisis situation, no job is beneath anyone in the newsroom.”
-- hey guys, get out those guitars.....
We’re headin’ to 16th Avenue!!!
The other major thing I’ve learned is to not turn away an interview, even if you think you already have all of your sources. You never know what that other person might say. It may end up being that special quote.
Yep, always make that last call, get that last interview, look up that last publication, go for that last look around ...
These are all such cool ( ) observations. Interesting how many of them are more “life lessons” than hands-on skills.....
For some reason, I find these questions the hardest, just because it’s hard to reflect on everything. Sometimes I don’t think I’ve learned anything. But looking back, I know I’ve improved on both my reporting and my writing.
For me, writing has always been a love/hate relationship, with the love part happening when I’ve got the creative juices flowing and my hands begin to hurt because I can’t take them off the keyboard. The hate part comes when I’m sitting in the office alone staring at a blank screen at 1 a.m. But I’ve learned that writing, like other art forms, is a creative process and it doesn’t all come at once. The best thing to do is to just start writing, get the facts down and worry about all the rest later. That way, you have something to work with rather than trying to get it perfect from the start.
As for reporting, I used to think that I had to go into every story with an agenda; that I had to dig and pry to get the information I thought I needed. Like Matt said, that’s not the case and you have to be fair. After all, these are people that we’re dealing with and just because we’re writing a story about them does not change that fact. Some of the best information and subsequent story ideas I’ve gotten from people came from sitting down and listening to them, and not scribbling down every single word they say, making sure I get it on record all while I’m pondering what my next question is going to be. I guess what I’m saying is I’ve learned to pick my battles. It’s a give and take relationship with a reporter and his or her community.
Like Martha, I’ll be taking these lessons with me as I continue with the job. They’ve really helped me out so far, and I believe they’ll lead me even further in the future.
But I’ve learned that writing, like other art forms, is a creative process and it doesn’t all come at once. The best thing to do is to just start writing, get the facts down and worry about all the rest later. That way, you have something to work with rather than trying to get it perfect from the start.
Chris et al:
This is the Classic Dichotomy re writing, something that all the great teachers in history talk about --
There is always the creative, more right-brain voice (how can I make this sound… here are my thoughts and feelings...) and the more exacting, no-nonsense left-brain voice (these are the facts; put them in order; bag the excess). They sometimes work at odds, sometimes battle with each other. The Workman Voice (the facts) is the one you have to listen to. The Creative Voice (here are my thoughts) is the one you have to keep at bay, until you have the luxury of engaging…
Interesting. Never ending. Always has been, always will be.
