March was an exciting month at Northcliffe House—aka my internship site. Firstly, the newsroom was buzzing with gossip about a guest visitor; that guest happened to be a member of British royalty and none other than Prince Charles himself. Editors at The Independent were unmoved by the royal visit and boasted that they were “too Republican” to care. In the UK, monarchists support the royal family while republicans, like my bosses, value a republic over a monarchy. None the less, I showed up early that morning to catch a quick glimpse of the prince, because the opportunity may never present itself again.
Another March milestone was helping The Independent’s media partner London Live—a 24 hour entertainment and news TV channel dedicated to covering England’s capital. London Live shares the same office building as my internship, and I networked with the operations executive to gain some television production experience. For the remainder of my time in London, I will be working with London Live for five hours a week—scheduling programming and guest appearances with the station’s planning committee and shadowing production reporters on shoots. I have no prior journalism experience in television and am excited for the opportunity to rise up to the challenge.
So far, I published six articles in the print editions of The Independent and The i. I have included links to my two favorite articles. The first was a comical piece on a Spanish deputy minister, who was caught playing candy crush during congress; surprisingly, politicians have a trend of playing with technology on taxpayer’s time. The second was a serious piece on UN resolutions that failed to provide adequate humanitarian aid to Syria.
My placement is hands down the best internship I have ever had. For such a well-known publication, The Independent offers more freedom and spontaneity than my previous American internships. My days are not scheduled, and my deadlines are different every week in the office. My supervisor’s greatest advice was “be a nuisance,” and being successful at The Independent means volunteering relentlessly for assignments and pitching ideas of your own for publication. Surprisingly, I felt overwhelmed in January about working for an international paper, but presently, I feel completely in my element and almost at home.
Sounds like a great internship. How are you assignments handed out? Is there a topic you’d really like to cover that you haven’t already done?
For assignments, I mainly pitch story ideas to editors, and most of them have been used for publication. The newsroom gives me some lead way in writing what I am interested in and passionate about. I would like to cover Features, which is more hands on reporting and has greater creative freedom than the other sections.