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The Tennessean in Nashville was among the newspapers
that hosted the first Chips Quinn Scholars and has had Scholars
working in its newsroom each year since. Sandy Smith, assistant
features editor and internship coordinator at The Tennessean,
asked other newsroom trainers and intern coordinators for
their advice on how mid-level editors can best work with interns
to ensure the internship is a good experience for the intern
and the newspaper.
Offering advice were Sue Burzynski, associate editor of The
Detroit News; Adell Crowe, staff development editor at
USA TODAY; and John Sweeney, public editor and newsroom
writing coach at The News Journal in Wilmington,
Del.
Here are their tips:
Set clear expectations from Day One: On
the intern's first day, discuss what you expect and what he
can expect from you. To help this discussion, give your intern
a "contract" that he can fill out with your help, outlining
things such as expectations about work hours, limiting personal
phone calls, ensuring accuracy and appropriate dress. Also
outline what your intern can expect from you in mentoring,
assistance and feedback. Include how you like to communicate
with your employees. Keep a copy of this contract and forward
a copy to your supervisor. Give your supervisor updates on
how well the intern is doing and how the terms of the contract
are being met.
Focus on one thing at a time: Many interns
are fairly new to newspaper reporting, writing and style.
To avoid overwhelming an intern, emphasize one thing at a
time.
Here's how you can do "one thing at a time" with writing:
- The first few weeks talk about the lead and what it should
contain. Encourage interns to write summary leads. (Anecdotal
leads are easier, so don't let them write them. Tell them
they have to find the news and put it in the lead.) Require
that they keep leads to 20 words or fewer; it's good discipline.
- The next few weeks, talk about impact. Make sure every
local story tells the reader clearly in the first paragraphs
what the story means. Interns generally don't know the impact;
they have to report for it. Prompt them with questions before
they head out to report a story, including: How does this
directly affect the person reading the story? Is there a
segment of the population -- parents, people living in the
counties, people who like to buy season tickets -- that
this makes happy, sad, richer or poorer?
- Then deal with context. Tell interns that almost every
story needs context. Encourage interns to report to identify
the significance of what they are writing about. Suggest
they ask sources this question: What's the significance?
Give feedback, feedback, feedback: Give
your intern feedback every day on everything he writes –-
good and bad. Be honest in your communication. Worried about
finding time to do this? Remember that five minutes of feedback
early in the day can save you 10 minutes of editing at night.
Feedback can take several forms:
- Immediate feedback: Explain why you changed a lead, preferably
while you are editing an intern's story and he is looking
over your shoulder. If you overhear an intern stumble during
a phone interview, offer tips as soon as he hangs up. Encourage
other team members to do the same.
- Occasional feedback: At least twice during the internship,
give the intern a written assessment detailing strengths
and weaknesses and go over it in a conversation. If the
intern is making mistakes, kindly point them out and give
him an opportunity to change. Then note it if he does. If
interns learn from their mistakes it doesn't matter as much
that they make them.
- Permanent feedback: At the end of the summer, complete
an evaluation form for the Chips Quinn Scholars program
and share copies with your intern and your supervising editor.
Detail the intern's successes and be honest about his weaknesses.
Include whether he seemed to learn during the period and
whether he should be a candidate for a permanent job at
some point.
Ask how it's going. Remember that your intern
might be alone in a new city and need someone to talk to.
Check in about the intern's well-being. Encourage peer mentoring
or have members of your diversity committee or others in your
newsroom serve as mentors and friends.
Remember the intern is a potential recruit.
Understand that the goal of internships is to better equip
students for long-term relationships. Don't look at interns
as temporary help, but as potential hires. Use internships
to train students so they want to return to your newsroom
and are ready to take on full-time jobs.
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