What type of internships does your paper have????

[YoungGun7]

I am a student at thistown university, and interning at a local newspaper.

I had to interview for this gig, and in the interview i told them i wanted to be a sports writer after college, and that i write sports for the school paper. well, they inform me that the paper doesn't do a sports intern.

well, ok at least i tried right?

a few weeks later the editor calls me and says, "well we'll use you. you can do 50/50 sports and news. fast forward, and guess who isn't even allowed to go near the sports department.

Just wondering how other papers treat their interns. do you allow sports interns???

 

[donaugust]

I would say that before you get too frustrated, keep in mind you are in a position to learn an awful lot about the business if you take advantage of it. Keep your eyes and ears open, watch how other people do their job.

I started on an internship in my first job, in sports.

 

[Bob Loblaw Law Blog]

Agreed. Do what they ask you to do and do it well. Then if something comes up and you get a chance to cover a sporting event or write a little sports on the side, knock it out of the park.

My first internship was on the news side, but during my summer at the paper the sports editor just up and quit, and yours truly "volunteered" to take over sports in his absence. When my internship was over, the paper hired me as the new Sports Editor.

So keep plugging and remember -- you make your own breaks.

 

[Sunshine Scooter]

I wish we could get an intern at my shop. Problem is we wouldn't be able to pay him/her much aside from bylines, experience, some peanuts and magic beans thrown in for good measure.

 

[donaugust]

Those are the best kinds of interns.

Wow -- when did I get so bottom-line?

 

[YoungGun7]

i guess i'm just frustrated at the fact that covering sports was promised, and when i ask to do so, it becomes a problem. the newsroom here is losing people, and thats why i'm stuck here. they could care less if i learned anything, i'm cheap labor.

 

[donaugust]

Just your being there will be ample opportunity to learn. If you are being held in news because they are short-handed, that should mean you'll be getting better work assignments than you would have otherwise.

Are you expected to work seven days a week? If not, then try to get in in Sports on your weekends.

 

[TyWebb]

Beggers can't be chooser at your point in the business. Any kind of work at a real paper will look good on a resume, but definitely keep your eye on opportunities to work with the sports department. Just keep asking if they have anything they need an extra hand on.

At my paper, we have a college kid who works as a "clerk" - meaning he does the grunt work of filling in the local agate, fielding call-ins, etc. We recently just let him go out and do a story.

 

[Taylee]

i guess i'm just frustrated at the fact that covering sports was promised, and when i ask to do so, it becomes a problem. the newsroom here is losing people, and thats why i'm stuck here. they could care less if i learned anything, i'm cheap labor.

I'd make the best out of the situation. You may want to write sports, but covering news will benefit you, such as helping you develop reporting skills. You'll make out of it what you want.

Another suggestion: Check your attitude at the door. "I'm cheap labor." Come on.
You really feel that way, get out. McDonald's is hiring for the summer, too.

 

[housejd]

Younggun,

I've doing a news internship right now, a year after I did a sports internship at a 100K. It isn't bad at all. In fact, I've found it more challenging than the game coverage I used to do. In just a week, I've learned that writing a story when you have to gather all the fact and information is quite different than writing a story about a baseball game that plays out right in front of you.

It's a great situation to develop your reporting skills. And trust me, in my four years at a college newspaper, that's the biggest area of improvement our sports staff needs.

Use the time to become a better reporter. It will lead to better writing when it comes to both news and sports stories.

Now with sports and news experience, all you're doing is making yourself a little more marketable out of college, and God knows, that'll be important when looking for a job.

 

[Manny Ortez]

Our anytown USA paper, circ. 20,000 in a town of 80,000, chose to go the "All Interns, All the Time!" route after finding out how difficult it was to fill a paper with three(!) editors (a city editor, a ME and the top editor) micromanaging three reporters.

Instead of hiring paid professionals, the masthead is now choosing to fill the newsroom with high school and college kids. The stories aren't great, or even always legible, but they're free!!

It is nice to get to stare at college girls instead of empty cubicles, but still.

Yea Journalism.

 

[In Cold Blood]

YoungGun,
Use the news internship as a learning experience. You get clips from a professional newspaper (and hopefully some constructive criticism from people who've been doing this longer than you).

When I did my internship, I went in with the belief that sports would be my thing, but instead I ended up doing everything from making coffee to typing court reports (blah) to writing features about the local university theater program... almost none of it was what I would have choosen to do, but in the end, I learned a ton about reporting, writing, and all the other things that go into putting out a smalltown newspaper. I left with a much better appreciation for the bigger picture.

Keep in mind that at many smaller papers, where the sports staff doesn't have a pro team or big college to cover, prep coverage drives the sports section. With school out for the summer, there are fewer assignments to be spread around on a daily basis. Be patient. Fall comes soon enough. If things go well on the news side, see about hanging around in the fall to work part-time as a sports writer.