Journalism Abroad

Hey guys,
I know it's been ages, but my summer has been hectic with study abroad and now job searching. I HIGHLY recommend a journalism study abroad to all of you. Visiting newsrooms in the British Isles, and seeing how the news is covered in other countries is fascinating. The opportunity to write about another country as a foreigner and visitor is a challenging, exciting, and unique experience. I wrote about the Royal Ballet in London, music in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and an old theatre house in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was great. That's all the time I have for right now. Best of luck to everyone! Take my advice and peruse the study abroad website.

Two Weeks In

I loved reading your post, and wish you greatest luck! Keep on writing and let me know how your summer is going. And where's the link to your personal blog?

Internship - Two Weeks In

After two weeks as an intern at the Daily News in Greenville, I would have to say I have done a little bit of everything, as far as reporting goes that is.

On my second day on the "job" I attended an Oakfield Township meeting with Daily News senior reporter Ryan Jeltema. My instructions from my editor were to simply observe how Ryan worked and read his article in the newspaper the following day, taking note of what he wrote about, and in what style.

Ryan thought differently.

We each took notes on the meeting, and as I peered onto his laptop to see what he planned on writing about, I chose to focus on another aspect of the meeting.

Ryan asked me to go ahead and write an article on it, and so I did. I finished it the next day, and my Editor said "lets put it in."

So, I had my first article printed as an intern, 3 days in on the job. I was excited.

Then I attended a city council meeting, got two stories out of that, which were both printed the following day. Four days in and three stories printed. Things are looking good! (I was initially told I wouldn't have anything printed until three WEEKS in.)

Since then I have had two other stories printed, both front page articles - One of them the feature piece in the Saturday morning edition for Memorial Day weekend. This was really cool, as all front page articles are posted on the Daily News' website (http://www.thedailynews.cc).

So, in two weeks, I have had five articles printed, not to mention doing the police reports, obituaries, meetings in brief, and gas surveys......all with outdated NewsEditPro software! Needless to say, it has been a busy two weeks.

And all of it without seeing a dime!

But that has worked to my advantage.

If I have any advise for anyone in the middle of their college career,
looking for an internship at a newspaper, this has worked great for me - choose a newspaper that is understaffed, can't pay you, and is starving for writers and stories. You will find yourself sitting at your own desk, and basically taking over the role as a staff writer. You'll be on assignment in no time, with potential to have many front page stories printed over the course of your internship.

The only thing that seems to separate myself from the "official" reporters, is the paycheck that comes on Friday.

If you would like, you can check out my two front page articles thus far on the Daily News website for free -

Memorial Day story - This story was at the top of the paper and was printed with a picture that I took personally while interviewing the woman I spoke to.

- http://www.thedailynews.cc/main.asp?SectionID=2&SubSectionID=2&ArticleID=15316


Other front page story -

- http://www.thedailynews.cc/main.asp?Search=1&ArticleID=15288&SectionID=2&SubSectionID=11&S=1

And that's about it so far. With graduations coming up soon, I am sure to be very busy the next two weeks. I hope everything is going great for the rest of you. Enjoy your summer and keep us posted on whatever it is you are doing.

Cory -

Radio Ga Ga

I must let you all know I thought of you while I was writing my first press release.

First and foremost, I’m really happy with my summer internship. While it’s for a group of radio stations, there are so many media aspects involved that I’ve never experienced. I’m definitely becoming more well rounded. I work primarily in the marketing department right now, so I do a lot of event planning and public relations. That said, one moment I’ll be tearing food/drink tickets for Harley Fest with a DJ and the next I’ll be writing a press release about a coming listener golf outing.

Keeping Ms. Kyle’s advice in mind with that press release, I tried to make it sound like I was familiar with my topic. I’m a geek, so I Googled “golf lingo.” I attempted to channel Allison or Craig because “knee knocker?” Can you use that in a sentence please? I did my best to wiggle in some appropriate rhetoric, but it was certainly a challenge.

I hope you’re all enjoying summer as much as I am. And if you ever need a laugh, try picturing me, that odd sorority girl, all dressed up and surrounded by bikers at Harley Fest.

Pentwater This Week

Hi everyone! Okay so I am well into the first week of my internship. My editor, which I told you all about when I did my "good writing" piece, is going to Mayo Clinic for up to 3 months this summer for a stem cell transplant. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers. So in light of her absence she has dubbed me the "project coordinator" of a new weekly news magazine entitled "Pentwater This Week". In case you are not familiar with Pentwater, it is a top tourist spot over here in West Michigan rivaled only by Silver Lake. So I am going to be running the show for the most part on this and I was hoping that some of you could offer any insight or ideas that could be helpful in my quest. This project is a such large undertaking and because of this I will not really have my hand in the regular newspaper (Oceana Herald-Journal) until probably July.

My project begins tomorrow with a trip to the Pentwater Historical Society to dig up some "gems" for locals and tourists to enjoy reading about/seeing in this little town. Then I am off to interview the asparagus queen (not joking). She is very nice, a lawyer with five kids, I just have to find out what her plans to help the community are. That is another one of my tasks, to layout and design the "Asparagus Advocate". It's a special section that runs the Thursday prior to the National Asparagus Festival which will be in my hometown of Shelby this year, about a mile and a half from my house.

Hope all of your summers are going great, I am looking forward to any suggestions you could give me or what your internships/study abroad/ jobs are like so far.

Not to muddy the waters......

but we've celebrated the last class... turned in our last stories... said our good-byes.... and started packing up for our next adventures. It was my privelege to spend the semester with you... my thrill at your learning... and my delight to meet you and get to know you and your hopes and dreams for the future. This site invites you to share your summer experiences at home and abroad, and to give advice and counsel to J300 students of the future. Good luck to all of you, and above all, don't forget to keep writing!

Muddying the Waters

The above-linked AP article underscores a sad, yet profound reality about the American political landscape. We’ve come to expect pomp and circumstance to dominate political news in the months leading up to a presidential election. But factor in an endless stretch of primaries, rallies, and lucrative “appearances” and the candidates’ schedules begin to match CNN’s programming schedule well over a year in advance of November 4, 2008.

When the opportunity arises for a candidate to roll up his or her sleeves and debate an issue, more often than not it’s time to run to the closet for those faithful tap dancing shoes. Today’s politicians put Fred Astaire to shame.

John McCain took a much-publicized trip to Iraq last month. He surveyed the scene outside the Green Zone and visited a market. The spectacle of McCain and several Congressmen perusing the streets in bullet-proof vests under the safeguard of Blackhawk helicopters made headlines, but what was really accomplished? Did McCain and his fellow tourists do much to improve our relations with the Iraqi everyman? Or did he resemble some affluent businessman on a junket to a foreign locale, the type who plays a round of golf between bouts of patronizing the natives?
More generally, political talking heads continue to make a point of Hillary Clinton’s chances of being the first-ever, honest-to-God, really-has-a-shot-somehow woman to take a seat in the oval office. Likewise, Barack Obama’s ethnic roots have been explored ad nauseum.

Fascinating as the crop of presidential candidates may appear from their various bios and flashy, jet-setting ways, we seem to have lost track of the issues at stake. For instance, where do the fickle firm of McCain, Clinton and Obama stand on immigrant rights? It’s a tricky problem to address, a topic of conversation that could earn you more alienation at a dinner party than Borat. Should we favor a guest worker program as suggested by President Bush, among others? Should we build a wall (and hire illegal immigrants to do it)? How about a moat? Pat Buchanan advocates troops at the border. Others argue that our ancestors all immigrated to America at one time or another and thus should be more tolerant of the newest wave of immigrants.

On his website, johnmccain.com, the Arizona senator stays mum about immigration policy. A link under the “Issues” tab mentions “Human Dignity & the Sanctity of Life”, but that turns out to be a commentary on the merits of overturning Roe v. Wade.

McCain is, of course, a proponent of a guest worker program, as past public comments and his voting record tend to support. In this bloated election cycle, though, McCain would rather talk about issues that don’t offend his conservative base. He’s become the man making a mad dash for the middle, the lukewarm milquetoast that McCain circa 2000 would have overrun in his Straight Talk Express with nary a thought as to what made that “thump” noise.

Hillary Clinton fares no better at confronting the complex immigration issue. Sebastian Mallaby, a Washington Post columnist, recently implored Clinton and fellow potential White House contender Rudy Giuliani to “stop avoiding the issue on the campaign trail.”

Saying that politicians flout the real issues is akin to saying plumbers have a propensity to let their pants ride low. We all know it, why talk about it? The jokes aren’t even funny anymore.
On the other hand, how long can these candidates ignore the 12 million protesters united yesterday to bring the immigration problem to light in Washington? What will it take to get their attention about an issue that affects us all – from the sub-minimum wage employee to the mogul…

Hey, did you hear Rudy Giuliani’s wife worked for a company that killed dogs to demonstrate a surgical procedure?

Sorry, what were we talking about anyway?