Journalism is often unpredictable, stressful and exciting, but its never boring. An internship with NBCLA.com is very much the same.
I walked onto the Universal Studios lot on my first day with a tie, a notebook and plenty of butterflies about what to expect from my very first internship.
It was only after stepping into the newsroom that I realized I wasn’t in Kansas anymore. The office was brand spanking new, brightly lit screens seemed to fill every nook and cranny and a constantly moving ticker overhead spelled out the day’s headlines.
I was yet to discover that many of my own stories would get their own time to shine in LED lights.
After a brief introduction to the coffee machine that I got to know quite well through weeks of early mornings, I sat down at my desk for the first time.
Almost immediately afterwards I was assigned a story. I didn’t even have my ID card yet.
Over the next few weeks I got a primer on what it means to be a web journalist in today’s fast-paced news environment while at the same time fine-tuning my writing and reporting skills.
During my internship I saw my byline above dozens of stories, running the gamut from car crashes, municipal malfeasance and, of course, the occasional missing iguana.
I helped out in coverage of huge local breaking news events and had some of my stories picked up by NBCNEWS.com.
I even went out in the field on a ride-along with an undercover police officer during a story about child sex trafficking in LA.
Throughout the entire exhilarating process of learning on-the-fly, I never felt like I was "just an intern." Instead, I was treated as an important member of NBC4’s web team.
I pitched stories at the daily morning meetings and examined social media strategy with web analytics that gave me a real world lesson on how modern media organization push content across different platforms.
Coming from a print background I was also able to gain a deeper appreciation and understanding of the broadcast journalism world by working closely with a bevy of talented and passionate reporters.
I may not have known exactly what to expect when stepping into the NBC4 newsroom for the first time, but after stepping out at the end of my internship, I was certain that I gained skills and experiences that made me a more confident and well-rounded journalist ready to cover the news both online and off.
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