Report for America today announced a new collegiate paid summer internship program, designed to fill one of the most common gaps on a rising journalist’s resume: professional newsroom experience. This 10-week program supports journalism students by placing them in community newsrooms and providing training, mentoring and financial support.
The program, run in partnership with select colleges and universities and local community newsrooms, helps prepare emerging journalists to land their first full-time reporting job.
“As an organization dedicated to strengthening the journalism pipeline, we realize it is critical to support emerging and early career journalists by helping them bridge the gap between the classroom and newsroom,” said Earl Johnson, vice president of recruitment and alumni relations at Report for America. “Allowing them to apply what they’ve learned and build a body of published work is crucial for job applications and future opportunities. This internship experience will also introduce students to industry professionals, mentors, and job opportunities.”
Interns will produce multiple news stories each week and will be compensated through an $8,000 scholarship — with 75% funded by Report for America and 25% by the participating newsroom. In addition to hands-on newsroom experience and support from campus internship program staff, interns will benefit from Report for America’s renowned training and resources that have prepared hundreds of early-career journalists across the country. The Report for America model not only recruits and supports journalists and their newsrooms, but it sustains a diverse and trusted reporter pipeline, with more than 87% of last year’s program alumni continuing to work in the field.
Report for America thanks the collegiate partners, host newsrooms, and student interns who are making the inaugural internship program possible:
- California State University, Los Angeles – The LA Public Press – Steven Lopez
- Florida A&M University – WFSU – Jazzmin Sutherland
- Howard University – The Baltimore Beat – Boris Turner
- University of Texas, Austin – The Austin American-Statesman – Maryam Ahmed
- Wayne State University – Bridge Detroit – Johnathan Shephard
“The Report for America Local News Internship is an invaluable opportunity for our scholars to gain hands-on experience in a real newsroom environment,” said Mira Lowe, Dean, School of Journalism & Graphic Communication, Florida A&M University. “This program not only supports students in honing the skills needed to excel in journalism but also instills the value of community-focused reporting that is essential to the field. We are excited to be an academic partner this year.”
“I’m looking forward to working with journalists across a range of beats and covering new, challenging topics that will help me grow as a reporter,” said Maryam Ahmed, journalism student at University of Texas at Austin and incoming intern. “This internship will help me post-graduation by giving me new insights in reporting skills like public records requests and covering underrepresented communities, as well as showing my ability to work in a professional newsroom.”
“BridgeDetroit is a small hyperlocal nonprofit newsroom with a big mission of serving the residents of our city. We are grateful for this partnership with Report for America and excited for our summer intern, Johnathan, to help us meet our goals while learning something new. What’s more, having a student who attends a local university will be a major asset when it comes to understanding the culture and needs of Detroiters,” said Laurén Abdel-Razzaq, executive director at BridgeDetroit.
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About Report for America
Report for America is a national service program that places talented emerging journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered topics and communities across the United States and its territories. By creating a new, sustainable model for journalism, Report for America provides people with the information they need to improve their communities, hold powerful institutions accountable, and restore trust in the media. Report for America is an initiative of The GroundTruth Project, an award-winning nonprofit journalism organization dedicated to rebuilding journalism from the ground up.