Online Reporting Intern

Seeking to jump-start your career in progressive journalism with an internship heavy on research, training, writing, and fun? This may be the place for you. Application deadline is November 13 for an internship starting in early January 2016.

YES! Magazine’s online reporting interns collaborate with the editorial team to assist with all aspects of reporting, writing, editing, and posting articles for yesmagazine.org. Interns can expect to leave the program with many clips and a wide range of marketable skills in online journalism and publishing.

If you are seeking a career in web journalism or communications and are interested in issues like social justice, environmentalism, and sustainable economic development, then this may be the internship for you.

What we offer:

Online interns receive training and guidance in all the essential skills of web journalism, including contacting sources, conducting interviews, organizing information, writing articles on deadline, fact-checking, headline writing, and uploading text and multimedia into our content management system.

Since we expect each intern to develop their own reporting beat, we spend a considerable amount of time helping them visualize the arc of their beats, cultivate sources, seek out the most interesting stories, and deliver them.

In order to facilitate the rapid acquisition of these skills, we stop the presses on Friday mornings for our “J-School Boot Camp,” in which editors use various textbooks and articles to teach essential journalism skills—as well as an awareness of emerging issues in the industry. We cover traditional journalistic skills like interviewing and structuring a story, as well as analysis of the funniest viral trends and story packaging on the Internet. The J-School is flexible and has recently accommodated requests for topics like resume preparation. (And just because it’s called “school” doesn’t mean it can’t happen outside by the garden with beer.)

Interns are key members of the online team and active participants in regular strategy-building meetings. They are invited to attend and contribute to organizational board meetings and all-staff retreats. We place a high value on their input and seek out their advice.

Although interns are unpaid, the organization supplies housing in a five-bedroom house near the office. Past interns have said that communal living helped them build friendships and encouraged exploration in the Seattle area.

What we ask:

This internship requires an in-office time commitment of 30 hours per week for a duration of six months. This duration makes sure that there’s enough time for you to build skills to a point of fluency and then write a number of strong stories.

Because this is a small team, this program requires interns to take substantial responsibility for writing and producing stories. Interns on the team will be assigned a beat and will be expected to complete a number of stories each month. Click here for some examples of writing by current Online Reporting Intern.

Most successful applicants have a BA in journalism or a related field, although this is not required.

Responsibilities:

    • Cover a beat through cultivation of sources, newswires, and other methods.
    • Contribute to our team’s social media strategy through Facebook and Twitter posting.
    • Participate in weekly “game plan” meetings and in “J-School Boot Camp” trainings.
    • File stories regularly in a given beat.
    • Upload and manage website content, including text, video, and photos.
    • Fact-check and research information on an ongoing basis.
    • Contribute to the development of infographics.
    • Carry out other projects as assigned by the editors.

Skills:

    • The ability to research, interview, and write on a tight deadline, preferably demonstrated by past experience.
    • A passion for the topics we cover, including social justice, environmental news, and alternative models of economic development.
    • An interest in being a key member of a small team in a fast-paced environment.
    • An interest in thinking through problems and developing solutions.
    • A sense of humor.

To apply, please send a resume, cover letter, two writing samples, and two references to internships [at] yesmagazine.org with “Online Reporting Internship” in the subject field.

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