When you recruit and hire an intern, you get to assist the future of journalism. It’s an honor to work with interns because in helping them develop as journalists, we help the future of our industry and the future communities they’ll serve.
NEWSWELL’s spring interns just wrapped up stints in our local newsrooms, and we’re proud of their accomplishments.
They covered museum curators and parking costs, a train derailment and city council controversies, homelessness and abandoned lots.
Thomas Murphy, a visual and digital journalist for Times of San Diego, built an impressive photo archive that shows San Diego ’s diversity: the California coast, interstate traffic, sports events and festivals, local government institutions and issues like homelessness. He trucked through muck by the sewage-filled Tijuana River and stood atop a skyscraper to shoot magnificent views. Along the way, he learned he could handle not only shooting visuals but reporting and writing breaking news and enterprise stories.
Murphy arose in the pre-dawn darkness on his 22nd birthday to follow volunteers who were counting the city’s people experiencing homelessness. He turned in photos and a story by 11 a.m., then went to class. His personal favorite was his enterprise story on the graffiti-covered “Mushroom House,” where his psychology studies and persistence led to a rare interview.
“I learned a lot from feedback. … I built confidence,” Murphy said.
What’s next: Two of Murphy’s photos for a story on an avian expert were selected for a May pop-up gallery, “Visions of San Diego.” In the fall, it’s back to school at University of California, San Diego.
Mireya Miner, a digital journalist for Times of San Diego, is a quintessential journalist, one who listens and watches, taking everything in. She calls herself an “observational learner.” Just being able to be in the newsroom, watching how colleagues handled interviews or interacting, modeled the way.
Days into her internship, she covered her first news conference on controversial parking fees at Balboa Park. She enjoyed pitching stories in weekly enterprise meetings and getting feedback on how to hone stories. And she learned the power of keeping an open mind. She gravitates toward environmental journalism but appreciated the versatility of the stories she reported.
Miner said her profile of a museum curator with expertise in all things avian, showing birds’ link to environmental history, was a chance to show her creativity.
She discovered intrigue in issues that she otherwise thought would not capture her interest. Her part of a project on abandoned lots taught her that a time-consuming search through public records can yield engaging results.
What’s next: Miner is seeking work and continues to coach girls volleyball.
Vince Medina, a digital journalist for Stocktonia, treats City Hall coverage like it’s a spread at a top restaurant, with accountability reporting as dessert.
“I love local government. You never know what you’re going to get,” he said. “There’s always something happening in Stockton. There’s always something deeper than what’s on the surface.”
In nine months at Stocktonia, Medina has plenty of favorite stories, and he learned lessons with many of them:
- How to pivot and cover a story he hadn’t expected to but saying yes anyway.
- How to be persistent in seeking an interview with the new city manager.
- Looking for the context amid breaking news with a public records-based story after a tragic shooting.
- Reporting on breaking news as it happens in real time at a train derailment that he reported old-school, over the phone to his editor and rewrite person, Cassie Dickman, and getting exclusive photos.
“Editors here are so willing to teach us,” he said. They “reaffirmed what I was looking for in journalism. Stocktonia reignited a passion, a kind of fire.”
What’s next: Medina is seeking work.
Also, a shoutout to the editors and other journalists who worked alongside these interns and shared their experience, knowledge, patience and enthusiasm.
San Diego and Stockton residents know more about their communities because of these three journalists who came, told stories, learned, taught others and grew as journalists.