Q: I am a journalism major and the assistant librarian/clerk for an area daily with a circulation of 35,000. I've been with that paper for a year and plan to continue working there for another year and a half until I graduate.
I've talked with the managing editor about a possible internship in the future, but he basically said they only take interns from a specific university, not the one I attend. He also said he wouldn't want me to be an intern there because then he would lose me as the assistant librarian.
If I had the opportunity to take an internship at another paper, I would have to quit my job, which I'm not willing to do. One editor approached me about stringing for the paper, but the managing editor said the IRS doesn't allow people who work part-time for a paper to also string for that paper. Do you know if this is true?
Another editor said I was getting a better experience by continuing to work for this paper, although I am not writing for it. My question is this: When I apply for a job at a paper after graduation, will my not having had an internship hurt my chances to get hired? Would my having worked in the newsroom at a paper for 2 1/2 years (though not as a reporter) weigh more heavily than a three-month internship?
Tracy H.
A: Get to a place that will let you report. Without bylined writing clips, you don't have anything to show your reporting skills. While I don't doubt you value to your present newspaper, I wonder whether and how much you're learning on the job. At another paper that would let you write and report, you'd be learning a ton. You'd have to adjust to new surroundings, go out on stories and turn your own leads. You'd engage in conversations with editors about your stories. Hopefully, you'd take them back for more writing, and pursue developments on stories.
In short, the best way to prove you can be a journalist is by doing it -- the sooner the better.
I don't know your paper, but if it's a fine one that you'd like to report for one day, it may be that the best way to leap into the reporting ranks is by leaving and doing it somewhere else, first. It's time to stop observing and to start doing.
This is a case where you're going to have to put your developmental needs ahead of the paper's needs and take that leap. If they won't let you take a leave to further your career, I'd wonder about them. It sounds as though they have a talented young person who they ought to nurture and support. (FYI, we gave an editorial aide a leave to do an internship, and were happy to hear she got a job. We hope to get her back one day.)
As for that managing editor who said the IRS doesn't allow people who work part-time for a paper to also string for that paper, I seriously doubt it. We pay full-time staffers for freelance pieces. For the real deal, ask the IRS.
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