Final Reflections and What's in Store for the Future

This was an amazing experience. I would do it again in a heart beat. I learnt a lot in the two weeks I was there. While it was really quiet, I was given a few assignments where I learnt just how they do it in the real world and also new ways of improving my writing.

The most important question: What has this internship shown me?

The first week I was there I was an absolute wreck when it came to stress. Even though there wasn't a lot going on. I was constantly stressed that they would give me a story and I would go out, write it and they would hate it. I know part of this experience was to be thrown into the deep end. And a lot of that stress was from being thrown into the deep end. Which is good. It's happened and now in the real world I'll at least know how to paddle enough to keep me a float.

I'm not completely sure if this type of journalism is what I want to be doing for the rest of my life. No doubt I will reach a point in my career when writing a story would become second nature and I would know that it was good enough but I'm not entirely sure if I would actually enjoy doing this style of journalism. The fast pace of the newsroom of being sent out to put together a story with little to no preparation, while exciting, goes against my need for perfection and need to think about things before they are completed. I definitely think my enjoyment level will reflect in my writing also. This isn't to say that this whole time at the Canberra Times was a waste. It absolutely was not. I have learnt skills that I could never learn in a classroom. And I will take these skills to my next job whether it be one in TV or long form journalism. Both careers I will try and get into.

Finally..

This experience was, again, amazing. From ringing someone for an interview for the first time with an important newspaper to running out to a school and interviewing children for the first time. It was amazing to see how the whole process worked. How it starts with a tip, turns into an interview and finishes with a story. How this story is brought to the final meeting of the day and everyone decides where it's place in the newspaper should be. Again, I leant lessons in this internship that I could never hope to learn in a classroom. I would like to thank everyone at The Canberra Times and the University of Canberra for giving me this amazing opportunity. It is an event in my life that will remain with me for the rest of my career.

A Slow But Eventful Week

This week I got sent out with a photographer on assignment to write a story. What a rush! Basically that morning I came in and about 40 minutes later JP came to my desk and told me the photographer was waiting in the car. I had to quickly read what the article was about and then come up with questions to ask. All of this done on the way there. I started to panic as I had no idea what to ask or even what this was about. Particularly since I had not done any research myself. I had to rely on the little research they had given me. The photographer helped me by telling me where and what the school was actually raising money for. When I got there we were met up with some people from the school board. We went inside and I interviewed a couple of the kids along with the teachers and principal involved. It was all a very eye opening experience. The rest of the week was very slow. With Christmas on the Wednesday there was nothing really going on in Canberra. So we were basically given a new assignment to do where we had to write about everything that was going on in Canberra. This was a pretty mundane assignment but it wasn't too bad. At least we were given something to do. It also gave me the opportunity to work on my writing skill. On Thursday I spend some of my day chatting and shadowing one of the newer journalists there. She was really nice and it was interesting hearing her experience as a journalist at The Canberra Times as well as what she had done earlier on in her life that lead her to that career. On our last day JP took us aside and had a coffee and a chat with us. He talked about how he thought we went and what he thought we could improve on. He also asked us about our experiences there and all of our thoughts. It was good being able to ask him some advice and also how he got to be where he was. It was a quiet week but still just as eventful as the first week. I have to say, I felt a lot more relaxed this week then I did in the first week. I will admit I was extremely stressed on the first few days there. It felt a lot better and more at ease this last week.

My First Week of Realisation and Much Needed Lessons

I have learnt a lot in the first week of being here at the Canberra Times. One thing that really came to light was the amount of work needed on my writing skills. It was definitely a lot different at the Canberra Times then it was at university. JP (the chief of staff) gave me a lot of great productive feedback. I have to say that despite how busy he was, he gave me some of the best feedback I received in the last two years. He didn't just tell me what was bad but also how to fix it and what to avoid. It also highlighted just how concerned they are with bias at the Canberra Times. He went through with me how to word certain words so that it doesn't seem bias in any way. This week we joined a couple of morning meetings as well as an afternoon one. It was really interesting and enlightening how everything worked. As it was near Christmas there wasn't a lot going on. But they brought together what they had. Even stories that had been written a few months back. It was interesting to see what ideas they had and how everyone collaborated together in coming up with how to best tackle the story. What angle to take and who they could contact. It was also really interesting to see how each of the people that came together was an editor themselves of sorts. How they had other journalists working with them and were out doing the job they had been assigned. In the afternoon it was really great seeing all the editors and final decision makers of the paper come together and discuss what stories they think should go on which page in the newspaper. I was a little disappointed that some of the stories I helped write didn't give me any credit but upon reading it it had been changed considerably. In saying that, I really wasn't expecting to even be writing anything. I really did just go there for the experience of it all. To see how everything works. I have to say this first week was not at all what I was expecting to experience, perhaps because it was Christmas. As crazy and possibly naïve as this will sound, my tutor always made it seem like the news room was this crazy place with people running around like headless chickens. Instead I was greeted to a calm and organised room with people chatting on their phones with sources. Many journalists ween't even there. Instead they were out in the field bringing stories together at the end or start of the day.

Nerves, Insecurity and an Internship

I just attended my first Communication internship seminar. I have to say, going into it I was extremely nervous. I had no idea what to expect. I had this feeling in the pit of my stomach. That anxious, knotted feeling that climbs all the way up to your throat. What were they expecting from me? Could I do it?

I was surprised to see a lot of people had already completed their internship with someone. It actually made me feel even more nervous and anxious. I felt behind everyone. Like the new kid still learning how to swim with a bunch of professional olympians. A girl who had just done her internship came up and spoke in front of everyone. She talked about her experience at her internship. She had worked with politicians and had made blunders but ultimately had an amazing experience and the people there had wanted her back. It made me feel better to know that she had made mistakes. While I know I'm going to do everything in my power to avoid making any mistakes, I know that it's going to happen.

We all got into smaller groups and talked about our fears an expectations going into the internship. My biggest fear is failing. Embarrassing myself and not being able to keep up with everyone at the Canberra Times. A lot of people have told me their experience there and how thrilling it was. How they were expected to write stories for them. It sounds amazing but also utterly terrifying. I definitely find myself doubting my skills. Am I going to be good enough? What if I break some rule or mess up? Talking with everyone in class about it, I found that lots of people had similar fears. I have to say I felt a lot of relief. It was actually funny to hear people say that their fear was that they would get there and decide they didn't want to do their degree anymore. That thought never occurred to me. I guess this is one of the things I know I want to do. I love writing and I love editing videos and audio tracks of news stories. I feel a sense of pride with it. Who knows though, maybe I will come out and decide that it's too much for me! I hope that doesn't happen. Even if I find that the newsroom isn't something I want to go into, just having the experience of being there is enough for me. Being able to get advice from respected journalists on how they have dealt with situations and stories they've encountered. How they come up with ideas for stories and what they do when encounter something they didn't expect. What drives them to do what they do. That's what I want to get out of my internship. It's not just about playing make believe that I'm a real journalist in a real newsroom. It's about the people I meet there and the experience I end up getting. Even if I'm driven to a point where I can barely breathe I don't think that I could have a bad experience because I know that there will be something that I'll grab from it. Even if it's a what not to do in this situation!

Going into this internship I know I'm going to give it all I have and more. Sometimes the best ways to learn and achieve something is to be thrown into the deep end. I know I'm going to struggle, but I also know I'm going to be with people that will give me a hand and help me out. As nervous and as scared as I am going into this internship, I'm absolutely looking forward to it. The Canberra Times, here I come!