UM Daily Intern

Hey RTV-ers!

My first week was a whirlwind. My internship coordinator was incredibly busy, so I was often left to fend for myself. My first week duties were observing and introducing myself to people at opportune moments. The most important lesson I learned was how to be engaged in the newsroom without being an annoyance. Overall I think I did really well at this. As I introduced myself to people around the newsroom when they had a spare moment, an intern who had been there 3 weeks already followed me and introduced herself then too. I have already gotten more opportunities to do things than she has because I have figured out who to ask, while she has spent her time on facebook. Clearly, how much I get out of this internship depends on how much I put into it. Knowing this, the responsibility to get newsroom experience here rests on my shoulders.

In that first week I buddied-up to a lot of photogs who didn't have reporters with them. I got to practice 2 stand-ups and I even got to interview the county Sheriff on the rise in vehicle break-ins. One story I went on with a photog was a bust: the day before a man had burned down 2 churches on the same block, so we went to the churches to see if anyone was there organizing repairs and if and where they would be holding their services, but no-one was around.

I've practiced writing a couple of VO's and one of them got used in a 10pm newscast. At the end of my 10pm shift I go into the studio and watch the newscast live, and sometimes do the same with the 5pm newscast. Oh & I go to the 2pm meeting or the morning meeting daily.

Oh and I got to hear the Governor's live statement on the capital building's front steps. The Governor announced his support for Obama right before his deadline to do so. Every Denver station was there and I got to meet interns from other stations. In fact, Bre Roy I met a photog who worked with you at that RTV camp you went to... his name is Dave Wertheimer and he says Hi Bre!

In my last few hours last week, I started to train on website postings for: www.thedenverchannel.com
I didn't expect to enjoy this as much as I did. Therefore, for my first rotation I am starting with Online News. It turns out, there are a lot more things interns are allowed to do online than near the cameras. I get to pick the top 7 video packages that show up at the top of the website and I get to rewrite AP stories, read the original articles from papers across the nation, and update each story with new info.

My first week certainly kept me on my toes. It was exciting to never know where I'd be going each day and I am making valuable connections.

I also started working at High Noon Entertainment in the Denver Comcast building. I'm getting paid a great salary to transcribe tapes from the Food Network Challenge and I get to go to a shoot of it on Monday. I am learning lots of shortcuts and the people who first introduced Avid to stations across the country work here. It's basically a Production Internship, so I was thinking about splitting my intern hours between KMGH and here because they'll let me do some editing and pick out bites as I am trained more.

~~Stacy