Journalism/Newspaper (Communication/Media) Internships

For me, the pressure was on the minute I touched down on Australian soil to find the ideal gifts for all my friends and family, and then some. I was able to visit Bondi Beach, Manly, Market City, and Darling Harbor to help fulfill my quest. During my first trip to Bondi, the first thing I did was take a walk toward the pool that I had dreamt about seeing. I learned that this iconic pool was called ‘The Bondi Icebergs.’ It was even more amazing in person, surrounded by Bondi’s cliffs and the ocean. But, my curiosity for the Bondi Icebergs didn’t end there. I wanted to know more about it, and maybe even get to go swimming in the famous pool. After doing some research and sitting down with one of the pool’s employees, I found out everything I needed to know about the Bondi Icebergs. One week I was given the seemingly impossible task of discovering which shop has the best ice cream at Bondi Beach. While in Sydney, I interned at CityHubSydney and even had an article published.

My internship was through an online, independent newspaper in Wellington, New Zealand. The parliamentary elections were going on at the time I was there, and I was able to learn about the differences in their government compared to ours. I maintained a blog, for the newspaper, about election integrity. I was able to network with over 40 activist concerning important issues like voter disenfranchisement and electronic voting fraud. I also updated the international news web page. Another aspect of this internship included a flight to Christchurch to cover the music festival “Southern Amp”. I was given a lot of responsibilities and autonomy. The staff was great to work with. In fact, the editor has written numerous recommendation letters for me.

I enjoyed my time at The Hobson and learned a lot about community journalism. Seeing my work published in such a respected place made me proud of myself. I liked the balance of meeting with the editor some days and then going in the field to do my research. Writing about the community gave me a chance to see how political issues are handled in a different country. Also, having an assignment near the beach was really cool.

I was more interested in the marketing side of the newspaper. My job duties include expanding our publication into a new district in the city. This is fun work as I get to learn all kinds of new things about the area. Approaching businesses is real-life work. I see the results immediately when I get a sale and it’s a good feeling to succeed in the real world.

The greatest part of working for the newspaper is how many articles I get to write. I submitted four pieces after only two weeks! It’s really fun to research topics in a foreign country and learn about the culture and what is important to people here. This is going to be amazing for my resume.