Indian media never says no to interns. The approach is to give every media student an opportunity to work in real-life environment.
But this also puts pressure on media organisations. They do not have sufficient staff to review the work being done by interns. Most newsrooms therefore leave interns to fend for themselves.
However, this does not mean that you should just hang around, and wait for your turn to get work. Instead, you must aggressively seek work. You must continue to offer your services with a smile even if most newsroom staff does not take notice of you.
There are four ways in which you can make the media internships work for you:
1. Offer to do any work:
You can make a good impact if you go out of your way to do any work that comes your way. This may even include carrying newspaper files from one room to another, or researching stories on the net for the graphics team or locating photographs or background information. All news desks are under tremendous pressure to close pages on time, and anyone willing to lend a helping hand in locating information is welcome.
2. Scan newspapers/websites for story ideas:
There is no point in pushing the Chief Reporter or Feature Editor to assign a story. They will be very reluctant to assign an important story to a fresher. The best they will do is to assign a story that nobody wants to do, and whose publication chances are slim or negligible.
A better approach is to come up with story ideas, and then suggest them to the Chief Reporter. Make sure that you think your idea through before putting it up for approval. This means that you should be ready with the story outline, names of sources from where you will get information, places that you will visit to get first hand information etc. Once assigned, you must make sure that you deliver the story on time.
3. Build friendships:
This is not easy. But try and find staffers who are your age, and reach out to them. They can be a good source of information, especially about vacancies, later on. The other useful staff members to build relationships are the Editor’s Secretary and the receptionist. They can keep you posted on all vacancies.
4. Never argue:
A cardinal mistake is to tell a newsroom professional he or she is wrong, even if they have made a mistake. Remember, journalists have big egos. They don’t like to be told they have made a mistake. Always, put on your best smile when someone preaches to you about journalism. Show your gratitude to the person for enriching your knowledge.
Your goal should be to make your media internships work for you.
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