The Most Important Thing

What is the most important thing you have learned in your internship?

The most important thing I learned during my internship is the importance of teamwork. The newsroom would never be able to function unless everyone was giving it their all, even the interns. Assignment editors found the stories, producers wrote the show. reporters went out and asked questions, photographers filmed, management ran the morning and afternoon meetings, the boardroom guys put it all together, and finally the anchor started off the show and pitched to the reporters. And then there are the interns running everywhere. It wouldn't work unless everyone pitched in. This is essentially important during breaking news. NBC Bay Area does not have its own helicopter, which is often needed to cover fires. As a result, NBC borrows pictures from a neighboring station. It this case it is essentially to work even harder as a team and keep communication flowing. Producers needs to know whether we have the footage or not and anchors needs to know what to say.

I love working in a team and that is why I think the newsroom is a place I want to work in. I think for me to enter this workplace it is important to learn how to be a leader and a follower.

The things I learned

What are three things you learned from your internship that you will be able to to use in your future career?

An internship experience is one where you take what you learn from the classroom and apply it to the real world. Unfortunately, when joining a broadcast station, I didn't know anything. At that point I had only taken one upper division journalism class, so my challenge was mostly to learn quickly. 

One of the more important things I learned is how a broadcast newsroom functions. The station can't report anything unless it has video, much online a print publication where pictures are good to have but not necessary. In this case, I have learned that broadcast reporting can be shallow at times. If you don't have the video to accompany the story, you cannot talk about it when you report.

Another thing I learned is that there is always drama within the newsroom. For example, if you are working in a top 5 market and are young, then you might find resistence with people working with you or under you. In other cases, people butt heads when each other and hold grudges against each other. Another example is if someone has a position(such as an anchor) and they are not very good at it, others will begin criticizing them. So even if things look calm on the surface, it is not always so.

The last thing I learned is that to be successful at an internship one must always find someone that you like to work with. The best thing I did was work extensively with one reporter.

What could CSULB have done better?

How might CSULB and your department better prepare you for a future internship?

      This is a tricky question. In some sense, I certainly felt as though I didn't know enough before I started my internship. I think this was because I had merely finished my first year at CSULB and had not taken many upper division journalism classes. I think in general however, the CSULB journalism department could do a better job of finding internships for students. My internship at NBC Bay Area was certainly lucky. I had applied to other internships throughout my first year at college and I received no response. The internship class in the journalism department is similar to the one through the Career Center. One must find their own internship and then apply for the class. I think it would be best if the journalism department, through their many contacts, actually helped us find those valuable internships. 

     One thing the university should have done is organize this class differently. I understand that to receive credit for an unpaid internship one must take this class or a class through the department. However, I did not learn what time this class was meting until August(keep in mind I had scheduled my classes earlier). As a result I had a conflict with this class and another. I think the university should schedule several different internship classes so students aren't limited to one section. 

Why work at NBC?

If someone was asking you for advice on whether or not to intern at your site, what would you tell them and why?

I have a great experience at NBC Bay Area and would always recommend interning there to students looking for an internship at a broadcast station. NBC Bay Area is non unionized meaning everyone, including employees, can try their hand at something different. For example, if someone decided that they want to try and their hand as a photographer they would be allowed to do it. In a unionized newsroom if someone was a reporter they simply are not allowed to touch the equipment.

Another great reason to work at NBC is that if you work hard, you are acknowledged. Everyone is not so busy that they don't pay attention to you. At the same time, the Bay Area always has something going on so you are never bored. Another great thing about working with a TV station that is int he top 10 markets in the U.S. is that the reporters and photographers know what they are doing; they are the best of the best. That being said, it is important not to be too intimidated. Shyness will get you nowhere in a loud newsroom.

I would give the advice to never sit the news directors chair during meetings. I made that mistake once and will never forget it.

Duties and Responsiblities

What are some of your duties and responsibilities as an intern? How are interns supervised? Is there an established intern training plan in place?

NBC Bay Area gave my a wide range of duties so I was never bored. Most of the time I worked on the news desk. This meant searching for new stories, answering phone calls, calling PIOs(public information officers) from police and fire. The most exciting time to work on the desk was during a breaking news story right before the broadcast went was set to air. There were times a fire would start at 4:50 p.m. and the newscast would be scheduled to go at 5 p.m. In other words, everyone on the desk would be scrambling for information and footage. Some people would call it stressful, I call it exciting.

On some days I would be lucky and I received the opportunity to shadow a reporter. I got to cover a school fire, a death in Afghanistan and a few press conferences.

Interns aren't very supervised. Our supervisors sit at the desk with us and when they need something done they ask us. Supervisors are usually very busy they are not paying attention to what the interns are doing. However, before my internship began all the interns went through safety training for the satellite trucks. The training was about three hours long. All other training(how to use the phones, iNews) was done on the spot. In about two weeks all the interns were proficient in using both software and phones.