An Intern Experience: My Self Assessment for my Summer Internship Class

This summer, I had the privilege of interning with two exceptional media outlets in the Los Angeles area: Discovery Channel’s Production Studios and Current TV’s Vanguard Journalism Department. I can honestly say that through these internship experiences, I found myself in the making. For as long as I can remember, I’ve wanted to be involved in the industry. It’s something I’ve always taken pride in, but up until now, knew so little about. When asked what I wanted to do with my life, it was so clear to me; the title “Broadcast Journalist” easily rolled off my tongue as if I already knew exactly what the job entailed. It wasn’t until last semester’s Digital Video Reporting class that the reality of it all clashed with my seemingly sugarcoated perception of the business. Now, as an intern, I’ve been able to use that hands-on experience as a foundation for entering the vast world of mainstream media. Generally speaking, I think interning is something too many people take for granted, so I wanted to make my two experiences count. Discovery and Current—two completely different mediums—have both allowed me to define myself as an upcoming journalist, and I’ve truly become inspired. For my assessment, I chose to focus solely on Current because it pertains more to Documentary Journalism, which I am currently pursuing, and it was the network, I felt, that impressed me the most. This is not to say that Discovery was anything less, but I’ve found that the area of interest, specifically television production, isn’t something that I connected to as much.
I first heard about Current TV through a few friends in the good ‘ol media lab. They created a short documentary on Anime culture and Current’s Viewer Created Content picked it up. I was instantly intrigued with Current’s way of making their audience a part of their distribution process, and when I stumbled upon Vanguard, I fell in love. The Vanguard Journalism Department is made up of a handful of news correspondents who travel the world creating hard news documentaries that are, in turn, broadcasted online and onto their cable television station. The VJ team typically covers stories that deal with issues such as globalization, the environment, religious conflict, politics, or gender/race equality, and they try to find stories that are either underreported or overlooked.
It’s a very organic process; they have crews out in the field that consist of only two to three people at a time, they shoot, interview, write, and edit all of their material, and the final package is put together very similar to a college student project. Equipment is checked out, contacts are established abroad, and plane tickets are bought. Out in the field, Vanguard uses more of a conversational approach to their podcasts, relying more on the unexpected moments in between, and worrying less about a script. They rarely use tripods, they’re not afraid to take risks, and they always get into the heart of the story and the characters they meet. It’s raw and it’s real and it is such a beautiful process to be a part of. I remember noting in one of my journal entries that it’s almost poetic to watch them piece together stories because it’s practically an art form.
As an intern for Current, I’ve learned how documentaries are put together: from brainstorming meetings, story pitches, to the relationships co-workers share in that type of environment. I attended many Vanguard meetings and listened as the correspondents gave each other feedback on their pieces, listed ways to improve their department, and I even had the opportunity to meet with the Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Current TV, Joel Hyatt, during a Current conference. When I sat down and interviewed Laura Ling, Vanguard’s President, she told me that she always carries a small notebook with her where she organizes her story ideas. Out in the field, she writes down everything that comes to mind and will mix different ways to approach each story she covers. I could’ve easily guessed this was their way of doing things, but for some reason I anticipated it would be some sort of grand scheme of things and really formal (people sitting around a long table in suits, water glass in hand, arguing about deep issues). Their way of going about business is extremely professional, but there’s a strong sense of familiarity with the people I work with that makes it that much more comfortable. Current TV, itself, is also a “weaker,” smaller outlet that has a low budget, which definitely affects the working environment there. It’s laid back and the Current staff is really close. They’re a family and they’ve worked together to boost the Current empire. The network was founded only about four years ago by Al Gore and it generally relies on its ad sales for profit.
During the course of my internship, I also gained tons of research tools looking up random facts about the correspondents’ story topics online, and I learned about the legal side of things through “baffing”—checking off release forms and money orders. When it comes to writing, Vanguard convinced me that conversational is sometimes better than traditional script writing because it’s more relatable to their audience. As far as interviewing, I learned ways to get around questions and form the questions that are most suitable for each interviewee. A good journalist, I’ve learned, needs to be persistent but patient, have great people skills for that approachability, a good sense of humor, and an unabated passion for sharing news.
As far as journalism ethics go, it’s important that any correspondent listens and respects their interviewees, as well as their circumstances. It’s difficult because as a journalist, you’re expected to go in-depth, but you can’t get too involved. Sometimes, you can become so attached to a character or location in your piece, and it can be emotionally draining to walk away after you’ve wrapped up. Like any writer knows, it’s also important to remain unbiased and fair to both sides of the argument you’re portraying. Simply put, you just need to be a good person; it’s such an interactive job, people skills are extremely important. The only problem I encountered at Current was a mistake on my part. A co-worker called me while I was at home to forward her an email I wrote—I agreed while running errands and told her I would get to it as soon as possible, however, I forgot and didn’t get it to her until the next morning. I apologized, but she did sit me down to explain that in this business, people aren’t going to wait for you to do your job—there’s a long line of people that are connected in this process, so if I forget to do something, it affects all of them. This was a valuable lesson for me, and it definitely addresses an example of a mess up that may easily evolve into an ethical predicament.
Working with Vanguard has motivated me to choose this type of content to cover in my career because I believe that the media has the power to open minds. Laura Ling told me that nowadays, she feels like the media is almost broken because it’s so boring. So much of the coverage is dry and revolves too much around entertainment news. Our generation needs to be excited about news. A news story can still be entertaining, and that’s one of Vanguard’s missions. Every angle they shoot, every question they ask, and every story they cover appeals so much to me. When you find that career that you absolutely idolize—that you thoroughly enjoy—it’s one of the most rewarding parts to life. To take a look at what it is you want to be—what you aspire to accomplish in that process—and know that everything it stands for is a part of you and what you want to contribute to the world—that’s pretty spectacular.